Week 50 - First Snow and a Birthday and a Mini Vacation

I didn't think I'd have anything to write about but once I looked back, I find that it was fairly eventful.  

Mom told me recently that she'd always wanted to contribute to Toys for Tots but hadn't had a lot of extra money to do so.  Now that she's sold her house and has a bit put by, she said she wanted to buy a bunch of toys and give them to the Marines for their annual toy drive.  We went off to Walmart late last week and spent a most enjoyable hour picking out toys.  Id never done anything like that before and we were both quite overjoyed to do that.  

Then, on Tuesday afternoon, we stopped at a Marine Recruiter in Springfield. I asked him if they were still accepting Toys for Tots (there was no sign in the window, hence my hesitation)...he said they sure were!  I'm not familiar with Marine ranks so I'm not sure what he was so I'll just call him Mr. Fagin.  Mr. Fagin came to the car and unloaded all the toys...I heard him say to the other Marine with him, "We can do a lot of good with these!".  Made mom feel so good!

On Wednesday, the Ozarks got their first snow. Not a lot, just enough to cover the deck...didn't even make the streets slick.

And, on Friday, I took some vacation time and we all went to Silver Dollar City for the Olde Time Christmas festival.  It was so stinking cold!  The temps started out in the teens and got all the way up to 23°...for a bit. Then it deteriorated down again.  Lordy, it was cold!  Even bundling up, it was still cold.

Silver Dollar City is so magical during the holidays.  There are decorations that take your breath away, strolling carolers, and hot chocolate and hot cider all throughout the park.  We never miss an opportunity to see their showcase production of A Christmas Carol. Mom was quite impressed.

This is a five-story tree that is spectacular at night...it's lit with over a million lights and it changes with music.  John's favorite.  And it was so cold that we absolutely could not stay long enough for dark to set in so he could see it lit up.  That made me sad, but I was too cold to care.

We also were able to have our picture taken with Santa! A very nice man offered to take the photo for us.

We're putting up the tree and getting set for the holidays today  Will post pictures next week.  Hoping you have a most amazing week.  

Thanks for stopping by.