Andi, Uncle Santa & The Festival Of Trees

As you may know we are currently in Florida on vacation.

My friend ANDI, Griffin and I met today for lunch at Olive Garden ... it was so nice to catch up and chat. The food was delicious but the company was even better. It was soooo nice to see Andi.


After lunch we headed over to an annual event they have every year in Winter Haven. It's called "The Festival of Trees" and it's so lovely. Trees are decorated in many different themes and they have many things for children to do.


For me, the highlight of the event every year is seeing Santa Claus. This is a very, very special Santa. Santa is actually my brother Jerome. He plays Santa during the holiday season at many different events. So it's nice to be able to go and visit with "Uncle Santa". Griffin walked right up to Santa, he wasn't scared at all. That made "Uncle Santa" very, very happy I think. The picture above is of Santa, Andi and Griffin. The picture below is Santa, Griffin and Me.


This is a look at several of the different Christmas Trees


And even more trees ...


This year they also had a Gingerbread House contest ... it was fabulous!
Here you will see my favorite three Gingerbread Houses


This is a McDonald's Restaurant Gingerbread House


This is a Log Cabin Gingerbread Church


And finally ... my favorite I think ... The Orange Dome Gingerbread House. Anyone from Winter Haven knows about the Orange Dome ... it's a staple around here. It houses the "Florida Citrus Showcase" ... they have the Orange Festival on the grounds here every year. At one point they painted it like a big baseball because the Cleveland Indians spring train here in Winter Haven, however they have painted it back to look like and orange ... the way it's SUPPOSED to be.

Wow ... coming home makes me miss it even more. What a GREAT day!