Christmas Parade...Wish me warmth!

CHRISTMAS PARADE DECEMBER 2007, and the float that Addi Jo was riding on! Excuse the darkness of this photo, but well uh....it was night time; therefore it was dark. No seriously I could have lightened it up a bit with photoshop, but I chose to leave it dark. It sort of adds to the ambiance....really I just didn't take the time to lighten it up. Tomorrow night is our annual Christmas parade in our hometown. NPayne and I have been attending this parade, since we moved here 12 years ago. The last few years, we have had a few of our buttercups ride on a float in the parade. This year 5 of the 7 of us will be IN the parade in some sort of fashion....driving a suburban pulling a float (that would be NPayne), walking (that would be Addi Jo with the middle school band), riding on the float (that would be Drew with her Adventure Guide troop), riding in the burban which is pulling the float (that would be Cal and Bryna). Cal is HORRIFIED of parades, I mean absolutely TERRIFIED....way too noisy and crowded for his comfort level, frankly way too noisy and crowded for my comfort level as well; BUT what do ya do? Got family in the parade....must attend. That leaves the babe and I to fly solo for the parade. She and I are walking downtown (we live 2 blocks from all the hoopla) with some friends and moms (whose children will be riding on the float that NPayne is pulling). The parade is actually really cool, and all the young uns LOVE it (except Cal). He is actually okay with riding in the suburban, but he has to be completely prepared for this event and reassured about a million times that he will be with NPayne. Last year he did really well, once he figured out that he was not sitting at the parade but was riding in the car. It took him a while to grasp that concept and get control of himself....then when they got home, he threw up EVERYWHERE; because he had gotten carsick from being in the suburban so long. You see anyone, participating in the parade, has to be in line downtown one hour before it starts; so there is A LOT of hanging around and WAITING....WAITING! NPayne said that part is NOT ENJOYABLE in the least....WAITING with a bunch of stir crazy little girls.... especially when it's cold (he is EXTREMELY anti-cold weather). Plus the parade is really long....a ton of participants, so it lasts about 2 hours. And to put a little spin on everything, there is suppose to be a coldfront come in tomorrow....wouldn't ya know it....it couldn't hold off one more day? So that will definitely change my mood about this whole parade business. Nice cool,yet comfortable, night at the parade....fabulous. Freezing cold at the parade....NOT SO MUCH! Did I mention that the parade is looooong? I feel like I'm whining and complaining a lot here....which is probably because I am. Let's change direction and head in a little more positive route....something really great about the parade and probably my favorite part (besides the getting to see my babes IN the parade, going with my friends, and seeing my little girl's excited reaction to all of the floats) is the fact that after each float passes all the way down Main St. including the grand finale float which totes Santa and Mrs. Claus (yes the main street downtown is actually called Main St.-how typical), it loops around and drives right by our house still all lit up and everything. This is so great, because it's like our own private little parade....sort of after the fact, Mr. and Mrs. Claus and all. Actually Cal thinks it's his own little parade, and this he LOVES; because there's no loud announcer or horns or music or bands and there's no crowd which is actually quite appealing to his mother as well. He stands at the edge of our yard and becomes the announcer for "our own private parade." He will say things like....Look mom, it's the parade (about a hundred thousand times) until the last float comes by; and then he will say "Look mom, it's Santa." I just LOVE it, and I get goose bumps thinking about how much he enjoys "our own private parade."
Tomorrow night after it's all said and done, I'll post a picture from this years parade, well....uh, because I have to take some first!