holiday parade

I live in a small town now, less than 10,000 people, so small town entertainment is what I have available to me. I'm OK with that since I didn't avail myself of the city entertainment when I lived there. Always too much traffic, too many people, too much money.

This year I went to the christmas parade around the square which they held the Tuesday night before Thanksgiving. It was my first time to go and I went with my sister. She's been living here longer than me and has even been in the christmas parade back when she and her husband were part of the farmer's market, back when he was still alive.

Anyway.

I remember when my kids were little. My best friend lived down at the other end of the block and she had two boys that roughly equaled the ages of my girl and boy so we spent a lot of time together and every Thanksgiving, we would get up early and bundle up the kids and take them downtown to see the Thanksgiving Day parade. I guess we did that about four years in a row until the kids stopped wanting to go. I knew a back way in to town and where to park so the walk was relatively short. Houston always had their Thanksgiving parade in the morning and it was always windy and cold downtown.

Anyway.

It was windy and cold here too so all my pictures are out of focus. All of them. I blame it on the fact that everything was moving when I snapped the pictures except the things that weren't. Even the things that were stopped in front of me, the pictures are out of focus. I think the wind was blowing the lights around or I was shivering, one or the other or maybe both.

Along with the parade there was (I hesitate to call it) a craft fair. Maybe a dozen or more vendors offering 'goods' and some other food vendors and a couple of guys walking around with those chemically colored light sticks of different shapes and sizes. The square was all decked out in its lights. But it was night and most people didn't have lighting. So all my pictures are dark as well as out of focus.

We sat on the edge of the sidewalk in front of Miss Hattie's which was about two steps higher than the street.

If you have ever wondered what a small town christmas parade is like, I can tell you. It's truck after truck with it's goose neck trailer and semi after semi with it's flat bed trailer filled with hay bales and kids and christmas lights and fire engines from every little town in the vicinity. Come along with me and see some of the over 70 entrants. I'm surprised there was anybody left to watch it.

approaching the square

vendors

the courthouse square

light wands and cotton candy

the first of many fire engines

a few angels

drummers drumming

some christmas cheer

teens with bikes with lights

a boat...wait, a boat?

kids on horses (can't very well have a parade in the country without kids on horses)

this was my favorite though

those blurry lights resolved into this when it stopped

pageant royalty

finally Santa in the back of the fire department pick up truck

and I hope you enjoyed the parade.