Ye Olde Salem Christmas

This past Friday was Salem's Christmas Parade. We always go down there, bundling up in many, many layers and taking blankets to sit on & wrap around us. We normally take hot cocoa, but this year it was accidentally left at home. Justin's family has been coming over and watching the parade with us for the last few years ~ a really nice tradition to have.
The day after the parade is always "Ye Olde Salem Christmas." There are activities going on between the Farmer's Market and Longwood Park, but we usually just walk down past the Market and to the library where the real treat is: a visit with Santa Claus!
Every year the Santa & Mrs Claus visit the Salem Public Library. You can sit on his lap and have your photo taken, or you can take your own photo ~ and, of course, you get to tell him what you want! Mrs. Claus reads Christmas stories to the kids elsewhere in the library and there are areas for crafts and letter-writing set-up.
It is always a special time, but this year was made even more special by the fact that ... it SNOWED! We only got a dusting down here, but the timing couldn't have been better!

So, we bundled up in our warm clothes and walked the couple blocks to the library as the snow came down all around us. As we neared the library we spotted a very familiar, but wonderfully surprising sight.


~What to our wondering eyes should appear?~

Santa was outside the library! We talked with him, certain that he must've brought the sudden snow with him, down from the North Pole. Seriously, flowers are in bloom here.


~Budding pink roses covered in the sudden snow~


~The boys posing with Santa as it snows all around~

After seeing Santa outside we headed indoors to look for new books to check out, and return already read ones. We love our library, it kicks some serious library butt! We then waited for our turn to sit on Santa's lap.


~Sitting on Santa's lap~


~Telling Santa what they want for Christmas~


~Listening to Mrs. Claus read a Christmas-time story~

On our way home we walked back by the Farmer's Market. I took more photos of things going on there. Of locally grown veggies and locally made crafts, of wreaths and greenery of all sorts. We got some hot apple cider, definitely a perfectly timed treat!
By the time the boys got up from their naps the snow had pretty much stopped. Today it is already all gone, with only the cold weather and wilted flowers serving as a reminder.
Living in this area of the country, snow is no longer a guaranteed thing. White Christmases are very, very rare. I remember when I was little, getting Christmas trees and there being snow on the ground, but that is rarely the case anymore.
The snow this past Saturday, however little and brief it may have been, couldn't have been better timed. With every snowflake that fell Christmas joy seemed to fill the air. It was beautiful.