From small beginnings: 2012 Dicken's Christmas Fair

Our neighbor, Heidi, gave us tickets to the Dicken's Fair the other day and said we should go. "The Dicken's Fair?" I asked her. She said she knew that I would love it and all she told me was that it is a celebration of Charles Dicken's works and that I would be taken back into the 19th century Victorian era London during Christmas. So we decided to go and we had a BLAST! Everything was decorated in old Victorian style and everyone was in character. Even everyday people like us were dressed in character! I was amazed at how well they all played the part and we saw many of Dicken's book characters roaming the streets of London and everything was beautifully decorated for Christmas. I felt like I was really there, in London, in 19th century, and I totally felt like I was in a Christmas card. I was also amazed at how well the characters played the part even when maybe nobody was watching. They had exhibits of some of the old contraptions that were popular during the era like a weather predictor that used leeches and metal to predict the weather, and they had all sorts of shops you could stop into. They even had parlors where you could just stop into and sit for awhile and listen in on some of the characters conversations or join in on them. All of the "streets" were lined with these kind of things and you could just go wherever you wished and do whatever you wanted and you were guaranteed a good time and to run into some interesting happenings from the characters. We saw fights break out between the characters, some characters were drunk and being carried away, some were talking about the weather or asking about my camera. I have always wished that I would have been born in that era and I love watching movies and reading about it so this was right up my alley. The food was amazing also and Travis ate a cottage pie and I had a roast beef sandwich and some mashed potatoes. The girls had lots of fun but there wasn't really anywhere for them to run around so I felt bad that they were confined to the stroller most of the time. We did let them play in the children's area and they ran wild for a couple of minutes but they did enjoy seeing all of the sights while they ate their lunch with us. We will definitely be going to Dicken's Fair next year that's for sure since we had such an amazing time this year! You can read more about the fair here. Here are some pictures, although they aren't very good since the lighting was yellowish and kind of dark in there. Maybe next year I will figure out how to adjust my camera for it. Oh well, nonetheless, pictures or not, it is an experience I will remember forever.