Santa Take #2

Peoria hosts a "YULE LIKE PEORIA" Christmas Walk About in Downtown Peoria every year on the Friday following Thanksgiving. We had attended once before and wanted to share the experience with Lydia this year. We started the evening at the Courthouse Plaza where children from the Penguin Project 'lit' the thousands of lights adorning the trees and buildings in the plaza. We sang a few Christmas Carols and watched the local ice sculpture artists do their magic before beginning our walk about. The first stop was the Chase Bank building in which Santa arrived to hear the wishes of all the kids for Christmas. We thought we would attempt to see if Lydia would warm up to Santa. She waited in line patiently, walking over and watching Santa talk to the other kids. When it was her turn, she clung tightly to me and turned her head away from Santa. As you can tell from the pictures, not even a candy cane could bribe her into looking or even talking to Santa. We were able to get a quick family photo before we continued our walk.

Throughout the evening we visited many local businesses, listened to Christmas Carols, viewed scenes from Christmas programs, sipped on cocoa and cider, ate cookies, and enjoyed all the festivities that jump started this holiday season. It was a wonderful way to begin the Christmas season with our little family of 3!