Clydesdales

Okay, I think this is kind of a big deal . . . Do you know the budweiser commercials played during Christmas?  The ones with the beautiful snow and the gorgeous Clydesdale horses pulling an old fasioned sleigh?  I LOVE those commercials.  They are so pretty.

Well, our town has a Budweiser distribution center and apparantly someone at Budweiser contacted someone at our local government to ask if they could bring the Clydesdale horses and be in our town's Christmas parade.  I'm fairly certain the answer was "well, duh!!"

Fortunately, my office happens to be in our City Hall building which is where the horses were brought to get them ready for the parade.  I left work about an hour early to go pick up the kids from school and bring them back to see the horses.

I don't know if everyone else thought the horses were a big deal, but I was thrilled to get to see them.  They are so beautiful!!!  And HUGE! 

How pretty is that???  I was talking to another mom I know through EK's school and she said a friend of hers was getting their family's picture taken for their Christmas card in front of the horses.  What a neat idea.  The only thing that would make it a little better would be some snow.

We even got a quick picture with Santa!!!!  EK and I weren't sure at first if it was the real Santa or just someone dressed up for the parade, but when he came over to say hello and have their picture taken with him we determined he was the real deal.  I just wish those dumb cars weren't in the background of the picture.

I really wanted to get a good shot of all the horses hooked up to the sleigh/trailer, but we were too close.  There were 8 horses in all!! 

The Christmas season has officially begun and I am getting excited!!  Certainly beer horses and Santa aren't what the Christmas season is about, but the bubbly excitment that they bring is fun to experience.  For me each season begins with that bubbly anticipation of the great time of year that is upon us.  Food, family, friends, giving, parties . . . all of these are fun to look forward to.  But as the day of Christ's birth draws closer, in haze of the shopping and cooking and traveling and planning, the peace of God's love and the gift he gave us in the form of his baby son closes around me.

May you be filled with the peace and hope of this Christmas season!