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​PARTY TIME:
A SMALL TOWN
CHRISTMAS
​by Lucy McGuire
Hard to believe it’s Christmas again, isn’t it?  The late Thanksgiving made fall seem long and leisurely and the beautiful weather puts off any suggestion of winter.  Even so, a quick glance at your calendar will tell you the big day is only a few weeks away. Wow! I’m not ready.  Are you?
 
What we need is something to put us all in the mood; something to bring that calendar to life and get us all rolling.  How about a Christmas party?  A special one with something for everybody.  Let’s invite Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus, too.  Oh yes, let’s have hayrides for the kids and Christmas Carols.  You really can’t have a decent Christmas party without music.
 
And a lot of fun things to do.  Christmas crafts, that’s it!  We can make ornaments and cards and gift tags.  And let’s do face painting and hair braiding, kids love that.  And we’ll have balloons and hot dogs and cookies, of course.  Cookies make Christmas delicious.
 
What else?  What else?  Oh yes, of course.  Shopping!

Everyone loves shopping for that special gift for that special someone.  Let’s get all the stores to stock up on great gifts and decorations for Christmas and extra goodies they don’t usually have.  It’s so much fun to see all the stores with colorful decorations and lights and trees everywhere.  The whole town can get all dressed up for Christmas.  What a great idea!  Let’s get started right away.
 
Oops! We’ve been out flanked.

​The Monument Merchants Association has already had this idea and already has everything ready to go.  It’s all scheduled for December 7th, the first Saturday in December.  They’ve been practicing for several years now, and they’ve got it down pat, so it’s bound to be a roaring success.
 
Mr. and Mrs. Claus will be at Limbach Park by 10:00am.  If you come a little early you can watch them arrive in a horse drawn carriage.  At 11:00 the Santas will pose for pictures with children in the Chapala building.  The Town Hall will have a craft hour for kids from 10:30 to 12:30.  There will be hayrides and carols from 11:00 to 1:00 and a guided walking tour of downtown Monument will begin at 12:30 at Limbach Park.  All the various stores have special entertainment and activities scheduled throughout the day.  And many have craft workshops as well.  It should be a great day for everyone.
 
Well, what do you say?  Let’s just enjoy the party and let them do all the work.  That’s probably a much better deal.  All of the downtown merchants have a schedule of events that you can pick up for free.  It tells you when to be where for what and who has what going on when.  Get one for yourself and your neighbors and plan to spend December 7th together in the small town you love living in so much.  Small Town Christmas will put us all in the mood for Christmas, and remind us again how lucky we are to be living here.