Pre-Thanksgiving Christmas

I don't need to make any comments on the fact that Christmas has invaded Thanksgiving. If you walked into a Target on November 1st, you saw all the trees and lights and what-not. Christmas is everywhere, already. Part of me hates this and wishes Christmas would give Thanksgiving it's space, but I have to admit another part of me wonders why we wouldn't want more of the most awesome time of the year?! Sure, some people say they get sick of all the Christmas after awhile, but I am not one of those people. So I will continue to celebrate and decorate for Thanksgiving, but secretly enjoys little snapshots of Christmas in November.

So this is my introduction to seriously the most fun activity we have been to downtown. It was "The Spirit of Danville," an event aimed at encouraging shoppers to buy local in the downtown businesses. Danville's really into their local, small businesses. Basically, they had a bunch of activities going on at different shopping centers downtown aimed at families. And it was so much fun!

What got us interested in the event was a newspaper advertisement I saw for free trolley rides in between the shopping centers that night. Jude got soo excited when he found out, because trolley's are almost as good as trains. The day of he was seriously too excited to contain himself. He couldn't even wait until 5pm; by 4:15 he was begging to go. And Ellie clearly fed off his apparent excitement and started getting antsy too.

Once we got there, we actually waited in line to meet the "Frozen" characters. I was a little surprised at myself, since I usually hate waiting in long lines for characters, but since we got there early, we only waited about 20 minutes. And it was totally worth it see Eleanor's reaction when she saw them.

Jude became super shy and refused to get out of the stroller, or even look at them. Although, Anna did try her best to talk to him.

Ellie SCREAMED with excitement when she saw Olaf. While we tried to take a picture she kept trying to grab his nose.

So definitely worth it.

Then we rode the trolley around downtown. I was too busy focusing on keeping both kids and all limbs inside the moving vehicle to snap any pictures, but it was awesome. Ellie waved and smiled at all the cars and people that passed; it may have been even cuter than her reaction to Elsa. Jude babbled on and on about trains and trolleys, and both pointed out all the holiday lights and decorations around the shops.

Back at the main stop, we decorated cookies, made Thanksgiving turkey pictures, and listened to Christmas music. At the end, Jude insisted we wait in line for Cinderella's carriage (pulled by real horses). I had to take off for a church meeting at 7, so Peter came by on his way home from work and swapped places with me in line. He took the kids on the carriage ride and then took them home for bed.

I wish I had taken more pictures, but it was just too fun to remember to pull out my phone. I'm so glad we went! Jude keeps telling everyone about his trolley ride and pointing out where we drove when we are out running errands. Seriously, I love Danville.