Luminaries

Our neighborhood had our annual Luminary Night on Sunday, and as usual, Santa Claus made an appearance! He flew in via helicopter for the event, while the reindeer caught up on their rest at the North Pole. I look forward to this night every year because we get to visit Santa without having to wait in a line a long line. We also have hayrides throughout the neighborhood, which stop at various "host homes" that serve hot chocolate, cookies, etc. As much as I complain about living in suburbia, surrounded by neighbors, I really enjoy our neighborhood, especially on Luminary Night. I didn't see a single house this year that didn't participate...the streets really look so pretty with all the little glowing bags. And the weather was much more pleasant this year than last year, making the whole event much more enjoyable.

Our buddies Ruth Ann and Tripp joined us...



Please ignore the fact that my child is not wearing his boots...



I forgot to mention that there is also a display of public safety vehicles on Luminary Night...this year we had a fire truck, DNR boat and a robot that I think is used by the bomb recovery team (?). The fire truck was a hit, no surprise there.





As you can see from the following pictures, the Santa visit was not a "climb on Santa's lap & smile for the camera" experience. The boys took the opportunity to have a nice chat with the jolly ol' elf. Mason rattled off his standard requests this year for a razor scooter and a headlamp. Roper, hearing Mason's requests so often, also asked for a headlamp as well as a flashlight. And then he threw in a last-minute plea for some candy.





I enjoyed looking at last year's pictures, when Roper was still scared of Santa.

And here are the pictures from 2009 , when both boys were so much smaller!