Christmas!

Hello Ya'll =]

As you know, or as I HOPE you know, Thanksgiving is not a holiday over here. And I don't mean "not a holiday" as in "not a big deal" I mean "not a holiday" as in "it does not exist". Which means we get to skip right from Halloween to Christmas.

I like Thanksgiving and all. I mean, I love food, and I love family, and I like being happy. So of course I like Thanksgiving. However, it is not my favourite thing in the world and recently, I saw something online that sums up my general feelings about the whole ordeal:

So, while I like food and family and being happy, my more cynical self sometimes thinks the whole holiday is a little ridiculous and full of empty sentiment. Not to mention what we did to the Native Americans after they were so kind to share their food with us.

Anyway, this all leads up to the fact that I really do not mind skipping Thanksgiving right to Christmas. Which  I realise also has a lot to do with material goods at this point. But fo realz I just like making gingerbread houses, listening to Christmas music, and being happy. 

With all this in mind, Christmas activities here start very early. As in the first week of November. There are Christmas Markets already open! 

Last weekend I went to a parade and "Switch-On" (Or a tree lighting) with my friend.

Unfortunately the parade lasted all of two minutes. I think I have gotten too used to Macy's-style parades. Or parades in larger cities, at least. However, I DID get to see real reindeer. And that definitely made the trip into town worth it =]

THESE GIVE ME THE HEEBEE JEEBEES

So after the parade we wandered around the mall and looked at the Christmas decorations.

I think I can fit.

I was also, erm...Unfortunate enough to come across these creepy penguins! I mean, I LOVE penguins. LOVE LOVE LOVE them. But these were so flippin' creepy:

After this, we went and had lunch. And I'm not gonna lie to you, I had chunky chips and hot chocolate because I was craving them. Not a real lunch, but delicious nonetheless. The hot chocolate even came with two mini oreos!

Mmmm, so good

It gets dark QUITE early here (By 4:30 now!), so the Switch-On was at 5. It was so cold I couldn't feel my toes! Perhaps I should have dressed more appropriately? (Hint: The answer is yes)

When they turned on the lights after a countdown, all the lights on the street went on....Except the tree. Something blew out, and there was a slight delay. But once they were on it was so pretty! I haven't been to a tree lighting in so long! (There was one in Worcester I meant to go to last year, but I was kissing babies at the YW at the time and forgot about it).

All in all, it was really fun and I am excited for all the Christmas activities here. I will post later about our makeshift Thanksgiving, but at the moment I am waiting on pictures.