A night downtown...

One of the things that we decided that we definitely wanted to do this Christmas season was spend an evening downtown. We knew that it wouldn't happen if it didn't get on the schedule, so Thursday became our "Downtown Evening".

The boys and I picked up Dan at work, and we headed on into town. On the way we stopped at Laurelwood (a brew pub with a play area) for dinner. It was great - the boys played while we waited for our food, we all ate in relative peace, and they we left. It's been a while since a meal out as a family went as smoothly.

Arriving downtown, both boys were instantly captivated by the bucket-drumming street performers. Max even got the chance to do a little drumming himself. It's amazing how much noise someone so small can produce with a stick and a bucket when surrounded by tall concrete sound reflectors! The lights on the trees glittering off the wet pavement, the general sense of excitement in the air, the laughter of the kiddos - all picture perfect.

One of our big reasons for the evening was our visit to the Santa at Macy's. The line was about 30 minutes long, but the decorations and making our list for Santa did a great job of keeping everyone occupied. Even when we were third in line and Santa needed to take a break to go feed his reindeer, Max and Luke hung in there like champs. Right in front of us was a young teen whose parents were paying him to sit on Santa's lap - they all joked about it, but it was a great reminder about how quickly these years will go.


Any time we have asked Luke what he would like for Christmas, all he has said is Santa. That, and "hold Santa's hand". But, as these things often go, the reality of Santa was too much. No lap for him. In fact, he now says, "Santa very nice, Santa scary." He did give Santa a little fist bump before we left.

Max, on the other hand, was totally ready. He hopped right up there, spoke loudly and clearly, and asked for another firetruck. Yes, Santa brought Max a firetruck last year. And we also got another one at a consignment sale. But our dear Max wants yet another. In fact, as he told Santa, he wants, "a noisy one for outside and a quiet one for inside." Santa listened very seriously, and talked with both boys for a few minutes. Overall a great experience.


Then we went down to Pioneer Courthouse Square and saw the B-I-G Christmas tree. Both boys loved seeing it, and had just as much fun running up and down the long ramp into the square. Much laughing, chasing, and reveling in the moment.

It was a wonderful evening. I'm so glad that we did it - and it's definitely going back on the agenda for next year.