Colony Christmas Fun!

Every year in Palmer they have the Colony Christmas Celebration. My landlords were kind enough to let me tag along with them this year. The whole town takes part in this, cause when you are stuck in Alaska you have to have something to entertain you. We went to the pancake breakfast at the Salvation Army, then we went to all the craft bazaars. The bazaars were all over town in five different buildings. We also went to a few stores to get the trivia answers (which are hidden all over town), but we went home cause the kids were getting a little tired. I was glad we did, cause I ended up going to Sears to buy a winter coat and a good pair of boots.

The biggest fun of Colony Christmas is the parade, yes, you heard right. We showed up a 5:00 PM (btw, it is completely dark by then) and got to watch the parade. It lasted about an hour and you'll never guess how cold it was............ -7! Would you believe that little miss Catherine stood there the whole time! Not only that, but I even stood outside for the fireworks! I can hardly believe it myself, but it is true. My nose was frozen, I couldn't feel my toes, and my face ached but I did it. I now know what it is like to have your nose crunch (ask someone from up north to explain this one) and just how wonderful hand warmers are. The locals taught me a few tricks, like how to hold your hands just right, which I can not divulge except to my fellow Alaskans. Anyway, I had a blast and feel as though my adventure up here may not be as bad as I once thought. I was told that if I could handle tonight, I could handle it all. I figured I would share this picture with yall. As you can see, my nose was frozen. That was the worst part of it all. Enjoy the pic. :)

These are my landlord's daughters. The smoke that you see in the picture, is actually steam. The photographer exhaled as he took the pic.

 

By the way, how do yall like the coat? :)