Christmas is upon us!

Hi everyone, thought I would update you on our activities before Christmas as things are getting pretty busy! I am leading a water aerobics class 7 days a week right now. The lady who usually does it 3 x a week has gone home to Colorado for 2 weeks so I do everyday now. Lots of fun as the weather has been so great. It is supposed to be between 75-78 degrees on Christmas day!!

The park just had a Christmas parade contest. We had to decorate our ATV's and golf carts and we paraded up and down the roads in the park. Guess what?? The Dixon's won the top prize.....a $50 gift certificate for Wal Mart. We had such fun

 

Our theme was Christmas Past & Present. Almost all our decorating items were purchased at garage sales or the thrift shop, Doug is just starting the decorating

Doug made the manger from dried Cholla cacti wood we picked up in the desert. The straw came from a pile in the far corner of the park where people traveling the US by horse stayed for a couple of nights.

The only thing we bought were strings of battery (2 AA) operated Christmas lights to put around the ATV and around the wheels. We had such fun decorating. Everybody was riding around the park trying to see what everyone else was doing. We kept the majority of our decorating a secret until about half an hour before the judging started. It was such a riot.

 

 You can see our Bethlehem star with rays coming down to the manger - looks better at night with the lights on of course. We are gradually getting the decorating done

Two little sparrows sitting on Doug's ladder watching us decorate

We are getting there

Mary & Joseph pulling out of the parking lot to head down for judging

 A little dicey dressing as a middle Eastern carpenter in the USA! 

A rear view of the baby in the cradle above the gifts

 Our stiffest competition was Santa & Mrs. Claus with their 7 reindeer on bikes

Getting ready to start the parade

 You can see our star and other lights better now as it is dark

We really did have a cool decorated ATV!

The Dixon's receiving their 1st place prize

Following the parade we had a wine, cheese and chocolate party. Great fun, excellent food and drink and lots of calories! Tonight we have a pot luck and then Christmas Eve we have a party where we all bring hot h'ordeuves and deserts and we do a gift exchange. It will be fun. We then have a big Christmas dinner with turkey and ham at 1pm Christmas day  followed by left overs Boxing Day. Talk about eat, eat, eat. Thank-goodness for water aerobics! Well, I guess that is all the news for now. Have a wonderful Christmas and I will most likely post following the big day