What Tree Lighting Ceremony??

     Megan had mentioned a couple weeks ago that she was going to play in the band at our community Christmas tree lighting ceremony.  I said, okay without really paying attention.  Eventually, I put it on my calendar and then realized it was last night.  She said it was purely volunteer, whoever wanted to show up from band could.  I have to say, this girl loves community service and volunteering...good for her!
     We were supposed to meet in our local Kroger parking lot.  I have to say, the rest of the plans were quite sketchy to me.  I thought the band would play like Jingle Bells, maybe Deck the Halls, and she would get back in the car and that would be it.  Oh no.....
     There was a sign in the adjacent shopping mall saying Christmas Tree Lighting 6-8 pm.  This shopping plaza is one I might have been to once, twice or a thousand times with JC Penneys, Marshalls, Bigby, Famous Footwear, my favorite local jeweler (Waterfall), a great restaurant (Root), etc...  So, after dropping off Megan, we stalked the shopping plaza where the event was to take place and realized it appeared to be a bigger deal than we thought.  There were tents and warmers, ice sculptures, a reindeer, balloon man, big Christmas Tree, Santa and Mrs. Claus, craft tables, the fire department had a bonfire to make smores, Kroger gave out freebies, a florist gave out flowers, Bigby gave free hot chocolate to kids and coffee for $1, dancers, and, of course, the band playing Christmas music.  Who knew!?  Since we were there before it actually started (because of dropping off Megan), we were able to check it out while it was still being set up.  Even thought we froze our ***** off, it was a nice Christmas gathering and particularly fun for the younger kids.
     Oh, and I was also interviewed by the White Lake Patch, the local internet news.  The reporter approached me with her little tape recorder...low and behold I was quoted in this article when I logged on this morning (so big time ;):

“We have our free coffee and hot chocolate to keep our hands warm,” said White Lake resident Cindy -------. “You can tell they’re trying to make a sense of community for White Lake, which we haven’t had too much of, and now there’s a nice area to do it.”

(Yep, that's pretty much what I said....)

The Christmas Tree...Before

Pretty little Wreath Head (?) Girl Ice Sculpture

A real live reindeer (only slightly bigger than my dog)...

Thanks, Bigby, for the free hot chocolate!

My two favorite band members...

A gingerbread house contest

Santa & Mrs. Claus arrived via antique fire truck (cute!)

The Big Man Himself

The Balloon Man was Very Popular!

Love Ice Sculptures!

I won't even tell you how long we waited for this candy cane balloon...

Lights!