Christmas with Granddaughters

,It was a wonderful Christmas with our granddaughters, Chloe and Avery.  They bring so much joy to the holiday.  They are quite young and still do not quite understand the holiday but Chloe did love opening presents. 

Annual VA Hospital Christmas Visit

Candy gifts for the vets

Our Legion Riders group spent the evening visiting the veterans at the Zablocki Medical Center.  We always visit the paraplegic ward during the holidays.  A neighborhood elementary school makes and gives us hand-made Christmas cards to give to the veterans.  We take along little packaged of candy wrapped in red and green and my daughter, Jen gives us baseball-style caps from Harley-Davidson.  The vets are always thrilled to get the hats.  Even the hospital staff like the hats (we had a few left over to give them as well).  It was a heartwarming experience to spend some time with these heroes.  And we are glad to be able to do it.

Legion Riders at the VA Hospital

Vets receive quilts made by my church group



The group hands out Harley hats and candy

Oak Creek Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony

Grandpa and Chloe at the ceremony

We took our granddaughters to the city of Oak Creek's Christmas Tree lighting ceremony. It was a beautifully, warm day as December goes, around 45 degrees. Chloe has just the liner from her winter coat on, and it was perfectly comfortable. As the fire truck turned the corner with its sirens blaring, Chloe didn't seem to notice. She was having too much fun running around outside. 
When the fire truck stopped, Santa Claus got out and walked over to the stage where he introduced his helper, a child that was chosen to help him flip a switch. A few aldermen spoke then they turned on the lights and everyone cheered. The entire event took approximately 15 minutes, which was nice. No long speeches by politicians, just a quick introduction of Santa and viola! - the light were on. Chloe still didn't seem to care much. Maybe next year when she is a little older she will be excited about the whole event. Obviously, Avery didn't care either. At any rate, we all were glad to be outside getting some fresh air.

Santa shows up, sirens blaring to the ceremony

Santa getting ready to flip the switch

Avery at the tree lighting



Chloe at the tree lighting