CHRISTMAS 2024 - WINTER 2024 / 2025
For us, the Christmas season officially starts the Friday night after Thanksgiving. This is the night that Santa Claus makes his first appearance in Conshohocken. He rides to the Community Center on a fire truck. This year he arrived on a vintage firetruck, which was cool, except for the fact that the firetruck's low profile meant we couldn't technically see Santa's arrival...even when sitting on Dad's shoulders. The line was so long to see Santa that we drove home, waited thirty minutes, returned and still had a fifteen-minute wait to sit on Santa's lap.
Whoever runs Scoops has a true entrepreneurial mindset. They open one night between Fall and Spring and not coincidentally that one night happens to be the night Santa arrives in town. Charlotte saw the blue glow from Fayette Street and we needed to stop. A peppermint chocolate chip was the appropriate seasonal order.
Ambler is rocking. The secret back ways into the borough to avoid crowds no longer exist. If you are heading to Ambler for a community event, in this case the Christmas parade, be patient. We arrived right when the parade was scheduled to begin...scheduled. The first float passed fifteen minutes after the supposed start. It took another fifteen minutes before a continuous flow of floats. We should have hung out at Forest & Main a bit longer. Part of the reason for the crowds was that every person in the borough and surrounding communities seemed to be involved in the parade - which makes sense as Ambler spreads across four, possibly five, school districts. This means each townships firetrucks, etc. need to be involved in the parade. The best "float" was a The Christmas Story themed float. Very cold. Next year we leave our house when the parade starts.
The Plymouth Firehouse hosts an annual Breakfast with Santa event - all the neighborhood regulars show up. Mom cleans this firehouse after events so everyone's excited to see her and her wonderful daughter. A few photos with Santa then it's time for the eggs, hashbrowns, sausage, and waffle sticks.
In the summer, Philadelphia hosted an "Open Streets" event that consisted of closing down a series of streets between City Hall and Rittenhouse Square - primarily down 18th and across Walnut. The event was such a huge success that Philadelphia decided to, no not hold it every Sunday as I'd prefer, but close the streets for two Sundays in December. Fortunately, it was not as cold as the previous day when we attended the Ambler parade. We saw Santa a couple of times - once reading stores, a second time strolling Walnut Street.  
From Walnut Street, we walked to City Hall, where the ice skaters mesmerized Charlotte. She desperately wanted to put on the skates herself and get out on the ice but Dad wasn't sure how much the fun would last one Charlotte found herself on the ice. We then walked over to the Christmas Village which had the typical weekend crowds which make this event not so much fun.
H2Oliday event at the Greater Plymouth Community Center. We saw so many Santas this year - at least seven. One of our favorite experiences was splashing with Santa in the Community Center's pool. The event did not have the crowds of the Halloween event, possibly because this was only the second year Santa's visited compared to twenty years of the Halloween swim. Fewer crowds meant Dad could relax a bit more and Charlotte could practice her swimming motions across a wider area. Dad couldn't resist going down the big slide. A choral group sang Christmas melodies.
Time for another community event - the Conshohocken Winterfest. By now we'd seen so many Santas that Charlotte was more excited to see Daisy Duck, although Charlotte may be Daisy's biggest fan. We made a snow globe ornament and enjoyed a pizza lunch too.
Dad decided to stop at Feeney's on our way to Sesame Place - Feeney's is the Christmas store capital of the Philadelphia area. So many decorations. So many different types of ornaments. All sorts of trees. Every Christmas item one could ever want. And then there was the sand in the flower pots to support and display metal yard signs. Charlotte found a sandbox and had to be pried away when it was time to leave the store.
Dad purchased season passes to Sesame Place. Season passes meant that if we wanted to visit Sesame Place for a an hour or two in the December cold, we could, and we did. No lines for any of the rides. Short line to see Big Bird for the first time. Good glimpse of what we hope to expect this summer. June can't arrive quickly enough. On the Merry-Go-Round we had to grab the "chocolate chip" horse.