christmas coffee, pants, & surprises

it's beginning to look a lot like CHRISTMAS..

for the last night together before i left for christmas (my last night sleeping in the same room as shallan and melissa..) we had a christmas themed evening..

anne's brilliant idea- the necessities:
1. wear pants (it might not be cold per se.. BUT we were going to pretend).
2. bring a to-go cup of warm coffee (again- christmas time in our heads = coldish).
3. go look for lights.
4. christmas music only.
5. visit nativity scene.

FUN. love you.

first big light display we stopped at.. the security guard finally let us walk inside to take this picture :)

the square was decorated all christmasy and so pretty. the night was actually pretty damp so, you know, let's just say it had been snowing.. oh! and there was a random art gallery showing that night in the gazebo thing that we happened upon- just one of the exciting surprises of the night..

mel has it down- pants, warm drink, christmas tree..

anne, mel, and shal at the nativity scene that had been set out by the catholic church in downtown puerto plata

ok, we went to see the extension of the art that was showing and while we were inside the gallery room, we heard singing upstairs.. so we walked up the stairs and found that we'd stumbled upon a christmas play rehearsal!! they could not have been any nicer.. invited us in to watch, pulled out a plastic table for us to sit on while we watched, and performed the whole thing! it was stinkin' amazing. they were really friendly and none of us could stop smiling when we were walking back to the truck. i love God's little surprises for us.

MERRY, MERRY CHRISTMAS. :)