Their First Santa Parade

On the second Saturday night of December, in a community not far from where we live known as St. George, the townsfolk gather to watch a parade of lights put on by the men and women of their local Fire, Police and EMT departments. Because we knew it was going to be short, and the best fit for the attention span of two three-year-olds wrapped in their snowsuits in minus 9 temperatures, it was our overwhelming choice for their first exposure to the phenomenon known as The Santa Claus Parade. Janne works with one of the firemen, and Jamie had told her about the added bonus of everyone gathering at the Fire Hall immediately after the parade to line up and sit on Santa's knee. The community communes, as it should - and the idea of it felt good to us. I grew up in a small community outside of a medium-sized city, and I appreciate what both of them have to offer - but my heart is still in the small town.
Janne made sure we had everything we could possibly need on our short journey for the twins, to the point where we brought along their snowsuits, rather than have them sit sweating in the car on the drive there, and we then appended their wardrobe once it was time to get out of the car and stand by the side of the road to wait for the action. You haven't lived until you've re-dressed a three-year-old in the back seat of a car on the side of the road. Seriously. You must meet my wife someday.
In any case, Morgan and Liam were bundled all Charlie Brown-like, and the parade came by, and the lights were nice, and the kids enjoyed it, and Santa Claus waved right at them (because the crowd along the side of the road was only one person deep - single file along the entire route - pretty well ideal for our purposes).
Two fun moments for me, the first of which wasn't supposed to be enjoyed quite the way I was enjoying it: Picture a woman - mid-50s - on a flatbed-type float, wearing a bad platinum wig, winter coat, black tights, and heels, standing next to a 'jail cell', the whole scene being displayed behind and towed by a Crimestoppers vehicle. Add to this a microphone in her hand, and her efforts to dance around while being jostled along the stop/start parade route, and the strains of the karaoke version of Feliz Navidad filling the air. Then, on cue, to the tune of the Jose Feliciano classic, as she's pointing to the 'prisoner' in the cage, she sings, "Police got his car. Police got his car."

I managed to summon enough decorum to laugh only on the inside, but it was beautiful. A small town moment like I had not experienced in many years.

The second moment was when we were unloading the twins at the fire hall. Anyone with little ones understands that "getting out of the car" is more along the lines of a full scale "disembarkment" at the best of times. I was on the 'road' side of the car, to remove Liam from his seat, while Janne was delivering Morgan from her restrains on the 'sidewalk' side of the car. As I lifted Liam up above my shoulder height, and turned him toward the street so I could close the door, SANTA went by! He was arriving at the fire hall to go inside and sit with all the children. For that brief moment, Liam had an exclusive-no-other-kids-around-one-on-one exchange with the Big Man, who waved and said hello to Liam, while Liam beamed up toward him. Great looking Santa, making direct eye contact, smiling and laughing heartily. At that point, Liam could have gotten back in his carseat and gone home, perfectly satisfied with the night's turn of events.
However, we went inside to see Jamie, and thank him for the heads-up about the parade, and see if our kidlings were 'ready' for a personal visit with the man in the red suit. As it turned out, neither of them would be interested in meeting a stranger and leaving Mommy's or Daddy's side once we had entered the very crowded fire hall.
However, once Jamie saw us, he came over to say hello, and then uttered the words, "You guys gonna get some hot chocolate?" Both Liam and Morgan came back to life. I stayed in the 'Santa line' with them 'just in case' while Janne went to hunt and gather some warm chocolatey goodness. She returned five minutes later, disappointed, saying, "They ran out on the person in line just in front of me."
I immediately suggested that we forego the Santa line for a trip to Tim's to get some hot chocolate, since the twins seemed more excited about that option - and off we went.
So - to recap -
First Santa Parade? Big hit.
First Taste Of Hot Chocolate? Even bigger hit, as pictured here.
(That's right, they had never had hot chocolate before. What terrible parents we are, depriving them of all that sugar for three whole years.)
Anyway (not exclusively for Ma Horton, but most certainly with her in my thoughts), here are the after-parade hot chocolate pics...and one Janne took while Daddy waited with Liam and Morgan alongside the parade route.
Happily Sipping Away
The Classic Chocolate Moustache
Oh - forgot to mention - about two dozen people walked past us during the parade handing out candy cane after candy cane after candy cane to us - and everyone - who stuck their hand out. ExTREMEly generous with the candy canes in St. George, just in case you're into that - something to keep in mind for your future parade-viewing plans. And no, their Grinchy parents didn't let their twins eat any candy canes. Lots of time ahead of us to start those bad habits.
This year's Christmas card photo shoot coming soon...