Christmas Party and More!

We had quite a day today, one that started off with practice for Team Edge, which you can see above is all dressed up for.  It was the first run-through in uniforms, and that threw some of the students off somewhat, but overall, they did pretty well.  

There are only two more Saturdays of practice left.  It was pretty intensive, repeatedly going over the routine time and again for roughly two hours or so.  There wasn't an audience, and there hasn't been much of an audience for the past few months when they've been here on their own practicing for hours on end. 

Maddie is happy with her teammates, the group of them working together for so long and building each other up with confidence.  In just a few weeks, they'll perform with their routine for all the rest of the students and parents that come for Edgestravaganza.

We headed back to the house for some food and cleaning up, because tonight we had a lot of things going on.  Firstly, Maddie had her Small Group Christmas party again.

Camille set up another gathering for the girls in her weekly small group.  It's the second Christmas party for the girls since she got them all together - last year's was so much fun, so why not do it again?

Maddie had such a good time tonight.  There was a white elephant gift exchange, all kinds of food and games, and just a great time together.  Maddie took a few pictures tonight along the way, and it looked like such fun!

Little Girl, Arise!  Maddie got this bracelet, as did the others in her group.  She also got present from Camille, a plush taco.  Yes, a smiling plush taco.  She loves that very much.  Anyway, it was a super fun night for her at the church.  Here are a few more pictures she took during the night.

Meanwhile, the rest of us filled our time with a few other destinations.  Our first stop was a return to the Festival of the Nativity over at a church in Gainesville.

This was an event we've been to a few times before, back in 2018, in 2013, and in 2015 too.  From what I was overhearing, this might be the last year for a time, so I'm glad we came back.  They had over 1,000 different Nativity sets on display here, and they're all lined up on tables and in extra rooms and even as ornaments.  In fact, before we left the church, a few members gave us some Nativity-themed ornaments, ones that were promptly put on our tree as souvenirs.  

We spent about an hour or so there, seeing all there was to see there.  I snapped a few pictures myself, which you can see of various Nativity sets from all over the world. 

It was nice to see all those again.  We left the church there, and afterwards had a bit of time to kill before going to pick up Maddie.  So we dropped by Wilshire Park there in Gainesville, which is now decorated for Christmas with lights all along the path.

It was a nice little walk, although the chill in the air had us turning around a little sooner.  We left and arrived at the church just in time to pick Maddie up from her party, and from there, we went home and pretty much got ready for bed.  Yes, we read, and we prayed too.  We got to bed early, because tomorrow we're starting our new "Christmas in Neverland" series, and it's going to be another great day.