Today was Palisade's Olde Fashioned Christmas. We went downtown at 11:00 and the girls went on a camel ride. I thought I was getting on with them, but the lady closed the rope, so I figured that if she thought they were okay, they were probably okay and they were. Cecilia was pretty excited about it after she got off but Francesca didn't seem too impressed. She said she didn't touch its fur because it looked dirty. I must say that I would have to agree with her. That Loma camel didn't look too well cared for . . . its knees were caked with doo doo and so were other parts of it. You'd think they would've spiffed it up a bit for the big day, but maybe camel grooming isn't like horse grooming. I don't know. It wasn't smelly or anything, it just had crunchy doo-doo knees, etc.
After the camel ride, we headed to the Slice O' Life Bakery for a little slice o' life. Yummy goodness. There was a guy playing the 12-string guitar and he sang some Christmas songs and Cat Stephens' "Moonshadow." Francesca was enraptured. He said "Moonshadow" is his grandkids' favorite - how sweet! I need to keep practicing the guitar. Its hard to do with the girls around because they get so excited and they can't keep their hands off of it. Plus, I suck, so that makes it hard, too. And it kills my wrists and fingers, but I shall press on.
We headed to Clark's horse drawn carriage rides and they were just standing around waiting for us. So, first we rode the white mules around town. The tack on the horses is beautiful, all black leather and silver buckles and bells. When we returned, there was room on the giant black draft horse carriage that Mr. Clark was driving so we went for another ride. I wish I could describe to you how beautiful and enormous these horses are, they are amazing. Check out the picture of the size comparison on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft_horse We rode all the way from 3rd & Kluge to 4th & Main, down to G Road (8th) and all the way to the Palisade National Bank on Elberta and back again. It was probably a good 20 minute ride. It was awesome. I wish cars had never been invented and we could all just get around by horse or bicycle. That would be so rad. Everyone would just be so much more relaxed. Maybe there could be trains, too. But that's it. No cars. Aaah - life would be beautiful. Cecilia almost fell asleep on the draft horse ride, so I took her home for a nap while Granny, Grandpa, Andrew and Francesca explored the happs.
It just was a good feeling day. I love that Francesca came up with the saying, "Christmas Magic," because that 's just how it felt. Magical. After both girls took 2-hour naps, my coolio friend Sarah S. came over with her 'Shrader boys,' Luke, Henry and Oliver and her friend Katherine. The kids got wild and ate a few bites of chili and then we were off to the race two blocks to the Palisade Parade of Lights. It was magical and the kids loved it, especially all the candy. Suckers, candy canes, chocolates, you name it. I think Andrew has been in with Francesca for over an hour, trying to get her to fall asleep. Cecilia was in the same boat, but I tricked her by saying, "Wait! Listen! I think I can her the moon rising! Listen! Listen!" and pretty soon she was sawing logs like an angel. Parental trickery is so awesome, when it works out. Anyway, Cecilia was really excited about the fire trucks. When the 1st cop car went by, she said, "Look! Fire Truck!" then when the real fire truck came by, she said, "Look! Big One Firetruck!" She is a riot. They both are, but I love the self-discovery at age two. I guess self-discovery is beautiful at any age, I just love getting to watch it.
Anyway - thanks to Palisade for being so sweet. Thanks to the 'rents for discovering such a lovely place for us to live and raise our children. And thanks to my lovely friends for being so love-ly. We had a magical day.
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