Christmas in the City

We made a trip into the city for some Christmas celebrations today.

 We did a last bit of Christmas shopping.  The crowds were awful, so we hurried.  But I got the last of the needed gifts and Steve and the girls made sure that Maggie has some lovely doggie treats.

Katherine and I went to a children's theatre production of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.  I have always loved the book and the play was just as delightful.  Kate giggled a lot.  I must confess, I have long had a soft spot for the dreaded Herdmans.  In fact, a good portion of my students are kind of like the Herdmans...  In any case, you gotta love Gladys hollering "Hey, a child is born!"

We ate dinner and went to the botanical gardens to see their light display.  There were millions of lights and thousands of luminaries - gorgeous!
Santa was there...
...and lots of fun scenes and decorations. 
Some of the lights were set to music and flashed off and in in wild patterns.  The girls were especially enamoured by urn-like contraptions that shot up real flames to the beat of music!   They were also fascinated by big heaters and chimineas set up around the gardens.                                                   
 
We wandered the luminary-lined paths and listened to music and enjoyed the evening.
Except for the major kid meltdown in the car on the way home, it was a lovely day.  Oh well...  The Christmas festivities were still a lot of fun!