With one week left till Christmas it's about time to recap what the first week of Advent festivities looked like for the Ballston Babes!

The 25th Annual Victorian Streetwalk, Saratoga Springs

The streets are closed to traffic for pedistrians and carolers to explore musicians, singers, magicians, and other performances such as ballerinas in store windows! There is always a plethora of food and hot drinks. We love to bundle up and stroll through this wonderland!

The Ballston Spa Village Parade

Floats, social and service groups, dancers, and singers march for over an hour down main street Ballston Spa. We park ourselves on the knoll of The First Baptist Church and as soon the parade starts the children run to the street to collect the candy that is traditionally thrown from each float! This delivers on having a "heartwarming hometown feel".

The Lamb of Christmas First Night Celebration @ FBCBS

Directly after the parade we head into the sanctuary of church for a Christmas celebration. This year it was The Lamb of Christmas, a Living Nativity musical celebration of the true meaning of Christmas with our Church choir, women's ensemble, men's quartet, and soloists. Fantastic!

2nd Annual Advent Workshop @FBCBS

I host an Advent Workshop after church to prepare our congregation for Advent through hands on activity, face to face fellowship, and meal sharing. The ten stations of crafts and activities were abundantly visited with joy and laughter. Everyone takes home their homemade items to bless their home or gift to others. The anticipation of Jesus builds and builds!

The Rudnick Family Christmas Tree

Sunset seemed like a good a time as any to forage into the woods at Bob's Tree Farm to pick out our tree in Galway, NY. It's dark just about all the time these days and with the season as busy as it is we'll sneak in an adventure whenever we can.
Rowan brings his saw every time. This year is the first year that he realized that his saw didn't work. So age 4 is when you realize that your plastic tools aren't actually the same as Daddy's. Got it.Our tree in hand (actually in Alan's hands) we headed back to the car with Evangeline and Rowan and 2 lollipops in the wagon. Officially sunset.
One day at a time we worked on making the tree our own. Day one it soaked outside. Day two it came inside and was set up. Day three the lights went on. Here is when the children identify the extension switch we have for the lights. Pictured: I'm pretty sure I am instructing Rowan to NOT turn them on and off repeatedly.Day four the balls were put up. Finally, day five we all adorned the tree with our family ornaments. Pictured: Rowan and Evangeline after they were kicked off the ladder.
As we walk through our Advent devotionals and calendars we learn about all the symbols and signs around us leading us to Bethlehem: tree and ornament history, the stars on top of the tree and in the center of the poinsettias, the tradition of red and green as our Christmas colors,...the list goes on. Having our tree up prepares us for Christmas in this time of Advent. And now that the tree is up we have tucked in the children's new Nativity blocks. We are blessed.