For the past few years, we have headed down the shore the day after Thanksgiving. There is a flurry of holiday festivities and because the island is so small it really has a Norman Rockwell feel to it. We got there in plenty of time for Avalon's Tree Lighting Ceremony. They light the Christmas Tree and then flip the switch for all the lights on all the trees for about 8 blocks on Dune Drive and across the bridge, etc. It is really quite pretty. They sing Christmas carols, read the "The Night Before Christmas", etc. Of course, the big finale is always when you hear the fire engine sirens wailing and see Santa cruising into town on top the fire engine. He greets all the kids and does the tradional sitting on the lap/Christmas requests bit. Evan requested a bowling set. Ryan took one look at Santa declared "I want to go home" ;) They gave out hot chocolate, candy canes, fireman hats and even pizza! It was really fun.
The next day we met our friends at the Wetlands Institute's Holiday Party. The boys got to see, feel and even feed all sorts of sea creatures. Again, we saw Santa...again Ryan requested we go home. :) The boys got their faces painted as Pandas! We climbed up to the top of the light house. Took a "Tommy the Train" ride. Drank more Hot Chocolate. You get the idea :) After close to 3 hours of fun, we headed back to our shore house. Evan asked when he was going to have his play date with his friend Taylor. I told him we just spent 3 hours with Taylor and he told me that "it doesn't count to have a play date out somewhere. You need to have it at your house or your friends house. This was just extra but it doesn't count as a play date." Evan is a shrewd negotiator...I think he gets this from Dave ;)
His negotiations and persuasive tactics continued later that evening when he wanted to meet his friend at the Stone Harbor Christmas Parade. By then it was cold and Derek was tired, not to mention Dave and I, so we tried to explain to him all the reasons why it wouldn't be a good idea to go. Dave was down stairs with them when he heard Evan coaching Ryan to "go tell Mommy that you really want to go to the parade". Dave came upstairs and gave me the heads up. Ryan came in shouting "Mommy I want to go to the parade" and Evan, the puppet master, stood right behind him. I said, "OK Ryan but before I answer I want to to know if Evan told you to say this?" Evan quickly whispered in Ryan's ear and smiled then Ryan said "no" :)
