Nativity!

This morning started out with a theme of the Nativity, as Jingle Bell had Madison's old set all put into place under the tree, and as you can see above, a spot for him over the stable as the star itself.  This was the theme of the day, in fact, as later on tonight we returned to the Festival of the Nativity here in Gainesville.  

This time around, we brought along Nana and Ye-Ye, who enjoyed it just as much as we did.  There are hundreds of Nativity sets here, each one on display on all those tables you see behind the family above.

There were nice ones, elaborate ones, expensive-looking ones, lavish ones... and then there were others like this one below:

We actually loved this one.  I mean seriously, a garden gnome Nativity set?  Yes, please!  It's fantastic.  But that was just one part of the variety of the night, where you have so many, and from all over the world, too.

These above, you can see are from Russia (in the middle), a small one from Puerto Rico, and there's one from Chile as well.  We spotted them from all the Eastern European countries, one from Hong Kong, and plenty from the different countries in Africa.  Some Nativity Sets actually had giraffes and lions.  And then there were some that just had cats.

This was actually Madison's favorite Nativity Set of the night - it's all cats, which given the play we just saw, might be a theme for the week now.  One of Daddy's favorites was this one below:

The one on top is from Scandinavia (I can't remember which country), and there in front you can see a Native American version.  There were several of those.  They came in all different sizes, and as you can see below, a variety of shapes.

Madison was really into it, reading all the Christmas scriptures loudly and charming all the other visitors as she tends to do.  She had a great time, as did all of us.  Here's one that got her happy:

A Peanuts Christmas indeed!  Anyway, we all enjoyed it, and then the snacks afterwards and the other rooms at the church on top of that.  It's such a pleasant experience, and we were quite happy to drop by once again, as were the grandparents.

The rest of the day was school for Madison, and an allergy shot for Daddy, along with a bit of Christmas shopping for Mommy and Daddy too.  There's a Toy Drive we're having at KidPak, so we picked up a few items for that.

One thing we spent a lot of time on was Madison's Paul Revere project.  We got the rough draft done, and on Saturday we'll revise and edit.  Madison did some piano practice as well, and cleaned her room up somewhat - she was really productive this afternoon!

Then it was time to head out to see the Nativity Sets.  We picked up Nana and Ye-Ye at their house - they're decorating tonight - and then we drove down Green Street here in Gainesville to see the nicely decorated houses.  There's a contest each year, and the decorations are all done very well - nothing terribly gaudy.  Not that we don't like the gaudy stuff, but Green Street is always a bit more stately, and an enjoyable drive that we slow down for.

And that was our day.  Everyone's pretty tired tonight though, so it's off to bed - we're anxious to see what Jingle Bell is up to for tomorrow morning!