In Between Christmases

In between Joseph's First Christmas (of 2008) and his second, we stopped by a nearby house, where the owner (a retired mini-golf mogul) turns his yard and house into Santa's village. He opens up his home to the entire community, and thousands of people from all over show up on the nights leading up to Christmas. Each child that comes can take home a present from Santa, and they have refreshments for everyone. Erin first learned about the house from a co-worker, and then we happened to hear more about it at church, so we decided to check it out for ourselves.


Looking back, the pictures don't do it justice. It's remarkable. I love how it allows families to spend a fun evening out together without spending any money.


It was a lot of fun to see how much the kids (and everyone) enjoyed being there.


Also, after going through these pictures, I discovered that--much like Brad Pitt's character in Ocean's 11--in pretty much every scene from this evening, it appears that Joseph has found something to eat (bet you didn't know that little bit of BP trivia, did you?)

Joseph taking advantage of a refreshment and searching for another

I don't think there are many people with the resources to turn their homes into a mini-amusement park, but I know I walked away inspired to find ways to reach out more to my neighbors, and we had fun bonding as a family.


Also, this is probably my favorite picture of Joseph at Christmas. It reminds me of what Christmas felt like as little child: