and the band played on....

We were on the move all day yesterday....

We started out at the Umatilla Christmas Parade. We were surprised to see so many people gather in such a small town. The crowds were actually 3-4 deep.

As soon as I sat down, this cute little pup came and jumped on my lap and then decided to stay by my side for the rest of the parade.


Love the old fire trucks....

the high school band

lots of cute little floats.....

great old cars......

and the OMS float.......

oh look....a bumble bee and a lady bug.....

and the owner of the park.....Karl

I'm not exactly sure how the Star Wars characters fit into a Christmas parade but they were there in full force and the kids loved them! Maybe that's what kids are asking for this year???

There was a "dressed up dog" contest and a lot of these kids got creative.........

There were scads of "twirlers"....all ages

And the Shriners had it all....floats, miniature cars and even a camel!!

Oh, I almost forgot the miniature tractor trailer....Matthew, you would love this!

After the parade,Salt and I headed out to Leesburg to the open door market. I found some things a couple of weeks ago that I wanted to pick up for Christmas gifts. After we finished shopping we headed over to the square for a cup of coffee, a biscotti and some good music by a folk band. There is always so much going on here.

As soon as we got home a bunch of our friends came and got us to go out to the Crazy Gator for dinner (Eustis) and then we walked over to the Classic Car Cruise. It was SO cool!! Eustis had all their Christmas lights on in the park overlooking the lake and there was a DJ there playing all my favorite (50s and 60s) tunes.


There were way too many cars to photograph them all, but here are a few......

I love this car because my Aunt Jenny had one just like this and she always gave me a ride home from church in it and ALWAYS stopped to buy all of us kids a candy bar.

Emma would love this frog car....Kermit was a passenger

Many of the stores were opened but we only stopped in this one gift shop. Here is the resident cat....lays right up on the counter. The shop was fabulous. I am not a "stuff" person but I really want to go back in and buy a few Christmas decorations. It was beautifully laid out....every area was done by color and you just couldn't take it all in!!

And our last stop was "Strawberries", the famous Eustis ice cream shop. I had to take this picture of the "Superman" flavor for Emma and Rachael. I know if they had been with us this would have been their choice. This is the first time I saw this flavor!!

We actually stayed home today.....Salt started putting the trim around the house and I cleaned the inside and did the laundry. We talked to Betty and Emma....one of the girls in her class told her there was NO Santa Clause....boy was she p'od! Betty asked what Emma said to her and she said...."I just told her she would be sorry, cuz if she didn't believe she would only get socs and underwear!" She is SO Paxton!!! She was also excited because she got her ears pierced.

We are looking forward to next weekend when they have the lighting of Mt. Dora....it is supposed to be a spectacular lighting display throughout the entire town. They also make snow in the park and all the kids get to sleigh ride. How cool will that to be to stand in shorts and tank tops and watch the snow???