Lighted Parade

A nearby community has a Lighted Christmas Parade every year.  I remember that Ephraim and I went one year, perhaps 2007 because I remember that it was just the two of us.  We were passing out snack bags as a part of our Outreach Team at church.  Every year since then, we've probably used the weather and the ages of the children as an excuse to not go.  Cold weather, young children, late nights just don't mix.  

This year was different however.  

The children are older.  

The weather was a warm 50 degrees for November.  Little to no wind.  

The children can sleep in, if they so choose (but they all naturally rise at 6:45am).  

If ever there was a year to use weather as an excuse to stay home, this was not the year.  Seth is super busy with the "bean run" for Pioneer which requires early mornings (as in 3:30am early) so it would just be me and the kids going.  

First item of business:  layer up the clothes.  Two layers top and bottom.  

Second item of business:  Find hats, mittens & coats.  Grab a blanket.  

Third:  Load the lawn chairs and drive to town.

We found parking, walked to the north side of the courthouse to claim a spot and then walked back to the van to move it to the courthouse private parking (every one else was avoiding that lot and I took advantage of it).  

We had about 45 minutes to wait before the 7pm parade.  

Eliza & Emmet just hanging out.

Eden & Ephraim just waiting.  Eden's trying to give Ephraim bunny ears.

Once the parade came through, we ditched the chairs and stood to watch.  Here comes the Musco float.

The theme was "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree".  

This impressive train was from Clow Valve.

A giant sleigh.  

The boys' favorite float . . . a quad-track from Titan Machinery.

Having not been before, I was not prepared for candy.  Good thing the children had hoods on their coats because they quickly took off their hats to double as a candy bag.  Unfortunately, Ephraim and Eden's hats had the eye and mouth holes so we had to watch for spillage.  That, and the kids had their thick gloves on which made it difficult to receive candy, but we made it work.

What a great night with the children!  We had a wonderful time.  I can't promise them that we'll make it to this parade every year.   

We made some memories and are now ushering in the Advent season.