Ruby Tuesday and Rednesday --- Christmas Red

Earlier this month I wrote a blog post about our family tradition of celebrating a "Secret Pal" event between Thanksgiving and the reveal party on the Saturday before Christmas. That party took place last Saturday. We had two family members who live out of state flying home for the party and I had agreed to pick them up at the airport. Their flights were scheduled to arrive about one hour apart. The flight from Omaha came in on schedule but the flight from Minneapolis was delayed several times, then developed mechanical problems after boarding and was delayed again. Altogether it ended up being four hours late in arriving.

Since we are a long distance from the airport going home was out of the question. To kill time while we waited for news that the flight was in the air the Old Salt, my sister and I decided to visit a shopping mall that is near the airport. This mall was built about five years ago but none of us had ever been there before so it was a very exciting trip.

The minute we got near the mall the Old Salt noticed that it had a large Cabela's and announced that we would drop him off there and go have a ladies day in the rest of the mall. This mall turned out to have the most unusual decor of any mall I have ever visited. It was also huge and a mini mall of America as well, with rides, games, a skating rink, bungie jumping, skateboarding and a lot more. I have some very interesting photos to share over the next few weeks for some of the other memes I play. But, for today I would like to share some of the Christmas red photos I have taken. The first three were taken at this mall, named the St. Louis Mills Mall.

As we strolled the mall we came across an area where this young man was making animal balloons for the kiddies. His name is Lou. I was immediately attracted to his hat. Now, you all know how I feel about a man in a hat. I have since added his picture to my "Parade of Hats" slideshow on my sidebar.

About half way around the mall we came upon the long line waiting to see Santa. I went up to the head of the line and managed to snap this shot of Santa between visits with the little ones. I was delighted that this mall hired a Santa with a real beard, but this Santa's hair was also natural and hung very straight to the middle of his back.

On each side of the entrance into this card shop was a Christmas tree made from balloons. One was white and gold but I liked this red and green one best. I also checked out how it was constructed and you can bet that I will be making some of these in the future.

This shot was taken at the Secret Pal Party on Saturday night. This is Noel, she is one of two St. Bernard's owned by the family hosting the party. Not only does she like to be in the middle of the action she loves wearing hats. She also has the required brandy keg that she will wear on special occasions as well.

This last shot is what I see each time I look out my kitchen window. A few of the firefighters constructed this fire engine in lights to decorate the firehouse that is across the street.

I am linking this post to Ruby Tuesday and Rednesday.

Mary at "Work of the Poet" hosts Ruby Tuesday. Rednesday is a Wednesday meme hosted by Sue at "It's a Very Cherry World." Both memes are dedicated to the color red. To join the fun or just check out what Red others are excited to share visit Mary and her friends at Ruby Tuesdayand Sue and her friends from Rednesday