Christmas is Blown Up!

Today was the last Sunday before Christmas.

Cathy dressed Hannah up real cute in a new Christmas dress (at right), and Mikey got all dressed up in a new red sweater. In the picture, Hannah is standing next to a little ceramic nativity set; Hannah really likes to hold the Baby Jesus. On the table you can also see the picture of Hannah and Mikey that we took at The Christmas Train a few weeks ago. Cathy and I dressed up pretty casual, because we were volunteering in the nursery at The Bridge for the first time. We were in the preschool class, and we had a great time telling the story of Mary and Joseph traveling to Bethlehem and having Jesus in a stable to the kneebiters. :)

Tonight we did something a little different... we went out to The Castle at Muskogee for The Christmas Kingdom. The short version of the story is that for the cost of the short trip down to Muskogee (admission is free), you can drive through a field filled with over a thousand Christmas inflatables (the blowup Santas your neighbor has all over his yard). They have Santa Clauses, snowmen, snow globes, and then more exotic stuff like a whole choir of inflatable reindeer and an inflatable outhouse (!). Some of the inflatables are positively HUGE... check out this puppy, who is in front of a full-sized two-story building:



If you've been out to The Castle for the Renaissance Faire, you might recognize the building! According to the Web site, the largest inflatables are 20 feet tall!

At the end of the drive through, you can stop and visit the inside of the castle itself and get some hot chocolate. There is also a petting zoo, where Hannah made a new friend:



There are a few more pictures that we took here.