Advent: Day 10

Lego Star Wars Calendar:

Activities:

go to the middleton christmas parade

drive around and look at christmas lights

the community where we lived in minnesota had a fun christmas festival.  it was held in early december complete with breakfast with santa, sleigh rides, and the highlight was a lighted christmas parade.

we would bundle up each year and walk downtown to watch the parade.

it was always so much fun {and really cold!}

we haven't been to a christmas parade since we moved to idaho.  

there are two communities near us that have christmas parades and this year we attended one.

 our neighbor is a principal in a nearby community and her school had a float in the parade.

she was having her son cooper's birthday party earlier that day and then having the kids ride in the parade.  

mauryn was so excited to ride in the parade. 

 she was having a great time waving at all the people

this is when she saw us waiting on the parade route.

{she still had her wedding hair in :o) }

 their float took 2nd place!

 i loved this grinch float!

 it would not be a small town parade without a tractor, 

 goats,

 and horses.  

not just any horses but horses with antlers,

  a reindeer nose, 

 and a santa outfit.

 the final attraction of the parade was santa arriving on a fire truck.

after we left the parade and dropped landon at a birthday party, we drove around and checked out christmas lights.

i am always amazed and how much work some people put into their christmas lights.  

we saw a few houses that had crazy light displays with lights changing colors or even lights moving to music.

its definitely one of our favorite things to do around christmas is to drive around and look at the christmas lights.

Bible Verses:

Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
  Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”
 The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news.  And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.”
 Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.
 When his time of service was completed, he returned home. After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion.  “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”
Luke 1:11-25