Santa's Village

Tonight we decided to have some family fun at Santa's Village.

It is this darling, historic part of town that they set up special during Christmas. They have live reindeer, Santa's Workshop (where elves are making wooden toys), Mrs. Claus' kitchen (where you can decorate your own gingerbread cookie), a craft area where you can make your own ornament, Story Time with Mrs. Claus, a stage with dancers, and of course a photo op with the man himself - Santa Claus!

Riding Santa's Sleigh

Charlotte's most favorite part was being read to by Mrs. Claus. She eagerly sat on Mrs. Claus' lap was attentive to every word.

What you can't see in this picture is the crowd of 30 or so adults and children packed in the room to listen to the stories. For Charlotte, this made no matter, as far as she was concerned, Mrs. Claus was reading just for HER!

Charlotte even helped pick out one of the books.

Even when she was supposed to be sitting with us, Charlotte had to walk right up to Mrs. Claus to get a better look. And there she stayed, fully captivated.

Afterwards, Mrs. Claus said to Daniel, "You can always tell the children who are read to... and the ones who aren't... Your daughter clearly loves to read!" Well, what would you expect from a girl, who when she spoke her first word, said, "Book!"

***

After such a memorable visit with Mrs. Claus we decided to forgo waiting in the long line outside in the cold, promising that we will stop by and see Santa another time.

Decorating the gingerbread cookie with Daddy.

SNOW!

(although it DOES snow in AL, this was man-made... )

STILL it was fun to see Charlotte's excitement and scrunched up nose as the snowflakes landed on her nose and eyelashes!