Bethlehem Walk

On Saturday we took Claire to a Bethlehem Walk. We heard about it on the news and wanted to check it out. We were really thankful to have gotten there early, because the line was crazy long! Anyway, the whole set up for the event was really impressive. And it was FREE! They just asked for donations to Edmonton's Food Bank. We took three cans of food, and at the end we wished we had brought the whole pantry...our contribution just didn't seem to be enough.

We were ushered into a big room where we were told what to expect and what to do in case of a fire. Then, a shepherd came and led us into another room, which was supposed to be outside of Bethlehem. Claire was excited because there were sheep!

Suddenly, angels flew in and announced the birth of baby Jesus!

Then, we went through the city gate into Bethlehem. It was just like you would imagine a bustling marketplace in those days. Claire really enjoyed the generosity of the "townspeople." By the end she had a piece of leather and soap and had eaten a bisuit and lentil soup. The soup was really good!

Roman soilders...

A Bethlehem petting zoo?

Claire got to pet a bunny. I love those soft, cute bunnies!

Okay, so you know I HAD to ask the innkeeper....I just couldn't resist...so I said, "do you have any room in the inn?" I just wanted to hear him say that the inn was full!

Proof that there was no room in the inn.

We then went outside to the stable. I have to admit that when Claire looked at the baby and said, "hi Jesus" it was an emotional moment for me. "Joseph" said, "Jesus has been waiting for you to come so he could see you!" So sweet....

The real reason to celebrate Christmas!

I couldn't leave out the llamas!

Then, we went back into the church and were led in groups of 8 to a table to eat cookies and drink hot chocolate. There were carolers too!

Guess who loved the cookies?

This was the perfect activity to get us in the "CHRISTmas mood!" Merry Christmas everyone!

Jingle On Christmas Parade

On Sunday we went to the Jingle On Christmas parade. One nice thing about living in a cold place is having an INDOOR parade! The parade went through a mall downtown, which was really something to see. We ended up sitting near some stairs and there was a ramp set up for the parade to walk down.

Pre-parade entertainment.

Yeah, the ramp caused a little chaos!

Claire liked the dancers. It was funny because all of the different groups had someone using a wagon to pull their boom box down the ramp. Most of the music skipped when they bumped off the ramp at the bottom. Oops!

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police captured the Grinch!

I really want to see Claire dance in a parade one day...I can hardly wait to make those bows!

And then a Halloween float. Really? Halloween in a Christmas parade? Weird!

And scary Halloween people in costumes....even more weird!

But the best part was the dogs! Claire loved the dogs! And they were really sweet and gentle.

Finally, after two hours of this parade....the grand finale. I said, look Claire!"

Claire is looking...

And I said, "Santa! Look Claire! Here comes Santa!" And no joke....Claire said, "Mommy hold you!!!" Good grief. She has only seen him once and she is already scarred for life.

Maybe if he had given out more candy canes....

Festival of Trees

Whew! Things have been getting a little busy here. I'm still not sure where the last few weeks went. Wasn't Thanksgiving just yesterday (and I'm talking about Canada's Turkey Day in October!)? Anyway, last weekend just added to the business when we decided to pack in a couple of Christmas activities. I love Christmas activities! We rode the LRT (subway) to the Shaw Centre to see the Festival of Trees. They had been talking this event up on the radio and we were curious to see what it was all about.

Claire liked the Polar Bear display.

The festival had a lot going on. We decided to try letting Claire sit on Santa's lap first. A lady in the lobby gave us free tickets, so her generosity saved us four dollars! Anyway, Claire made it all the way to the front of the line before she starting screaming bloody murder. In the end, we got a picture of her on MY lap. Of course, now that it is all over she likes Santa because he gave her a candy cane! If you ask her what she wants from Santa, she will now say, "candy!"
After that trauma we went to the children's hospital area. There was a bunch of different learning activities here. Claire didn't understand most of them, but I was impressed with what the area had to offer. There was listening to your heartbeat, giving Elmo an IV, looking at xrays, sewing a teddy bear up, and getting a fake glitter cast on your finger.

Look at my fake glitter cast!

She walked around just like that until she realized the cast slides off. It was pretty funny!

Sewing up a teddy bear.

Next, we went to get hot chocolate and a cookie for a dollar. My favorite part! Sometimes it is nice to have a toddler. Claire didn't want her hot chocolate, so I got extra!
We watched some dancers perform and then looked at a few of the Christmas trees.

This one was covered in butterflies!

I really liked this glass tree!

Sorry about the terrible pictures on this post. My camera hates dim lighting. Anyway, before we left we attempted to get a family picture. Thank you to our friend who got nominated for the job!

I think we will be going back to the festival of trees again next year. It was a lot of fun!

Putting up the tree!

Last night before we put Claire to bed, we put up the tree! We figured it we didn't soon, there wouldn't be any time to enjoy it. We are going home to the US for Christmas two weeks after Thanksgiving. I thought that this year Claire would be able to help...and she did...in her own way!

The tree box is fun every year!

It didn't feel like that long ago that she was in the tree box when we put the tree up last year! Charlie put the branches on the stand, while I played Christmas music off the ipod. Gotta listen to Chrismtas music while putting up the tree! :)

Claire loved the lights. Who knew they would cause a huge meltdown when they had to be put on the tree? She did better with the ornaments. They were fun to hang on her wrist like bracelets.

Yay, putting up the tree makes it seem like going home is not too far away! Charlie and I are super excited to be going back to the US for the holidays. I might kiss the ground when I get there!

Oh yeah...when we got home from Church yesterday it was snowing again. We got another dusting on our just cleared driveway! Nobody has to dream of a white Christmas here...it just keeps coming! :)

Welcome to Canada, Philip!

My brother surpised us last week when he called and asked if he could come visit us over the weekend. Like I would turn any visitors down! So, on Friday night we stayed awake to go pick him up at midnight from the airport. At first I was just going to send Charlie, but after thinking about it I woke Claire up and we all went. It was exciting, driving in the snow late at night to get Philip! Claire stayed awake the whole time...I think she was excited too!

Welcome to Canada!

Poor Philip didn't have much time to see everything. He had to leave early Sunday morning. So he went with Charlie to the university Saturday morning. When they got back we went to the big mall. I really couldn't think of much else to do in this cold weather! It has barely made it into positive temperatures lately.

We checked out Galaxyland. Philip was interested in the roller coaster, so Claire and I waited while Charlie and Philip went for a ride.

Lately Claire has really enjoyed riding on Charlie's shoulders. When she got tired, we put her on Philip! Ha!

We even got Philip to use my camera to take a picture of us!

We ate dinner at a restaurant in the mall (I think Philip was impressed with all there is to choose from!) and ended up sleeping to a movie after Claire went to bed. I was sad to see him go, but it really won't be too long until Christmas. I'm sure he was ready to go back to warmer weather! :)

And the temperature is...

We survived our first snow storm! Claire and I have been stuck inside the last two days. Poor Charlie still has gone to work. It is definitely weird that everyone still keeps going here, but home in Kentucky or Tennessee the whole world stops for this much snow! I think we got around 4 or so inches.
Anyway, I wanted to take Claire out to play in the snow, but the temperatures lately have been sooo cold! Check out what the temp is this morning!

Yes, it says MINUS EIGHT! We still measure the temperature in farenheit even though they use celcius here. It has been hard for me to get used to! I know that in a few weeks this will be warm compared to what is coming, but I have never been in weather this cold before!
My Mom says that when we come home for Christmas it will feel like summer. I am looking forward to thawing out there! :)

An IKEA Breakfast

Today Claire and I ventured out to IKEA for breakfast. A friend from Bible Study told me they had breakfast there for one dollar! I can always go for breakfast...and for one dollar? It didn't take much persuasion! Today is Rememberance Day here (like Veterans Day in the US). Lots of people must have wanted to celebrate by eating breakfast at IKEA. It was packed!

When we got upstairs to the restaurant we got in line with everyone else. I noticed a lot of people had little shopping buggies that held your tray...some smart Mom must have thought this invention up! I grabbed a couple of chocolate milks and one of the dollar plates. They had a bunch of other stuff too, but I wasn't sure how hungry Claire was.

Here is what we got for a dollar. Looks good, huh? Claire pigged out. I shouldn't have shared with her, because she does NOT share well. Next time, she will get her own plate. She loved everything!

And the best part was the chocolate milk! We stopped by the kids section when we were done. Claire found a chair that spins and wanted to spin there for the rest of her life, but we managed to get away and I got to look around.

When we were in the checkout line, they had a moment of silence for Rememberance Day. I don't think I have ever had a moment of silence in a store before! I was very respectful during the moment of silence, but Claire needs some more practice.

When we got home, Charlie surprised us by coming home early. It sure did make my day to spend extra family time together.

Candy, Please!

I have heard these two words countless times today! Claire couldn't wait to get her little hands on some candy. We first took her trick or treating in the mall. It was so crowded. We learned our lesson because next year we are going to have to get there much earlier! We waited in line to get a map and a free bag.

Waving at some kids in costumes.

We were so surprised that most of the stores were out of candy before we even started.

Had to get a family shot...

Are you laughing at my crazy picture?

We stopped to take a picture on the bridge.

Claire insisted on walking the whole way around the mall carrying her bag. Charlie kept periodically putting candy in her mouth. Don't worry, her teeth got a really good brushing tonight!

Anyone want to guess where this picture was taken? Mom needed to have fun too!

Claire slept a little on the way home, but it was already four o'clock so she didn't sleep long. We ate dinner and then went out in our neighborhood. I was curious how popular trick or treating would be here. We saw lots and lots of kids. We took Claire to just a few houses. She got pretty good at knocking on the doors and saying "trick or treat", "thank you", and "bye bye."

Claire on our front porch.

Some spooky houses :)

We really liked the decor on this house. They had the "Thriller" video playing on their garage. When we got home we sorted the candy into "Claire's" and "Mommy and Daddy's" bowls. I am noticing right now that our candy bowl is getting suspiciously low...I haven't even had one piece yet! Hope you had a happy Halloween!