La Mesa Village Christmas

On the eve before leaving Santee, we found a local event in La Mesa to go to and had a blast!

We were interested in getting a sense for how the residents of an area close to us celebrate Christmas on an annual basis and have some good old fashioned family fun...and that we had.

When we arrived, we went to their Friday night Farmer's Market which made me think of friends at home, especially our friends from the farm! In some ways, it was not unlike farmer's markets in Ontario, yet a few subtle differences. Firstly, that it's outside and it's the middle of December. Plus, there was an abundance of gorgeous flowers and some fruits and veggies that you don't get in Ontario. I bought one, it's called Cherimoya... can't wait to try it. There was a fiddler playing who Josh heard right away and wanted to give him change. :) That's our Joshie... 

Afterwards we checked out the main drag to see what was happening and try to get some dinner before everything got rolling. As we strolled, the kids were handed candy treats, looked at brightly- lit window displays and murals, were offered scones, cookies, cider and best wishes for a Merry Christmas. We also found a bead shop that was like heaven for Josh as he loves beads! Then, they saw the rides and jumped up and down with excitement. So, against our better judgment, we made sure the kids ate before going on the rides. Thankfully, this had no ill-effect in the end. :) We found an authentic pizza place and met Santa and Mrs. Claus nearby. The boys were given dough balls to play with while we waited for our meal. They had so much fun kneading and shaping it. After our dinner, the kids and Jeff went on the rides; rides that made me feel dizzy just looking at them. A clown gave the boys balloons and we saw Matt transform into a pirate with his balloon sword around his waist and eye patch painted on his face. Then, we watched mimes, horse- drawn carriage rides, people huddling around fire pits in the middle of the road (cuz you know they actually think it's cold here :)) , a puppet show and listened to bands play Christmas carols. 

All in all a wonderful event and way for us to spend time together as a family doing stuff that the kids love to do... Jeff and I received our own dose of Christmas joy just watching them being happy.