Christmas in Nice
I still have limited access to the computer, but Anna is at a neighbor's place and Scott and Justin have snuck out for some last minute Christmas shopping. Woo hoo!
Last weekend we woke up at the crack of dawn, got ourselves over to the church at 8:15 a.m., our meeting time, walked over to the train station for our 9:00 a.m. meeting time, and finally got on a bus a good while after that to head to Toulon. We were going to see a musical in the evening, but there were to be activities and shows all day.
Our information was a little off though. We arrived, went through a very well-done nativity recreation, and then...nothing. We found a sunny spot out of the wind to eat outside at the edge of the parking lot and wondered how to entertain fifteen children for five hours.
An enclosure with some farm animals was set up where of course Anna was fully entertained. She eventually got to hold the baby goat for a while. We spied a ball stuck in a tree and got it down, so the boys played soccer. We eventually walked down to the port and then to the Christmas village, which is basically exactly like Nice's Christmas village except we don't have this...
...which was interesting, but a little creepy. At least one of them scared a small child by coming too close. Which begs the question, why would you have entertainment that scares children for Christmas?
Where are the elves, the reindeer, and Santa?
I think the answer is that Christmas is supposed to be magical here, and magical things can get a little creepy sometimes. And in fairness to the creepy Christmas village entertainment, plenty of kids are scared to death to sit on Santa's lap. If you are going to scare children for Christmas, the adults might as well be entertained by jazzy music.
Here's the snow from the snow machine, which gave off a copious amount.
Next will be French Christmas goodies...the next time I manage to nab the computer.
Last weekend we woke up at the crack of dawn, got ourselves over to the church at 8:15 a.m., our meeting time, walked over to the train station for our 9:00 a.m. meeting time, and finally got on a bus a good while after that to head to Toulon. We were going to see a musical in the evening, but there were to be activities and shows all day.
Our information was a little off though. We arrived, went through a very well-done nativity recreation, and then...nothing. We found a sunny spot out of the wind to eat outside at the edge of the parking lot and wondered how to entertain fifteen children for five hours.
An enclosure with some farm animals was set up where of course Anna was fully entertained. She eventually got to hold the baby goat for a while. We spied a ball stuck in a tree and got it down, so the boys played soccer. We eventually walked down to the port and then to the Christmas village, which is basically exactly like Nice's Christmas village except we don't have this...
This is a man in fancy garb moving his arms in slow motion while his cats stay on his arms. I'll have to say that the kids were mesmerized.
The other main entertainment was this...
Where are the elves, the reindeer, and Santa?
I think the answer is that Christmas is supposed to be magical here, and magical things can get a little creepy sometimes. And in fairness to the creepy Christmas village entertainment, plenty of kids are scared to death to sit on Santa's lap. If you are going to scare children for Christmas, the adults might as well be entertained by jazzy music.
Next will be French Christmas goodies...the next time I manage to nab the computer.