Christmas Parade

Tonight was our local small town Christmas parade, and having not been here for the last 32 years, I just had to go and see how it has changed.........I almost wish I hadn't. Hubby didn't go because of the cold......he feels like he may be coming down with a little winter misery, so we didn't want to take the chance of making it worse.

I started off by walking up and down the main street, something I've done a million times growing up, as my daddy ran a gas station on the corner of Main and Court for almost all the years of my childhood. Instead of seeing the closed-up storefronts (thanks, WalMart !), and the medical supply and Verizon stores, I pictured the bustling Christmas Main Street of my childhood, complete with the mechanized larger-than-life Santa Claus in the window of the Western Auto store. Oh, how mesmerizing he was then.......and the store itself totally transformed (in a kid's eyes), with the shelves suddenly being stocked with all kinds of toys to put on your Santa list........I would spend hours, literally, in there, checking out all the toys, knowing that once Christmas was over, they would mysteriously disappear to be replaced with boring kitchen items, etc.

Then I strolled down to the corner of Main and Park where a live tree was always brought in and decorated with lots of ornaments, and those BIG red, green, blue, and yellow Christmas bulbs. Sadly, it's been replaced with a 15 foot artificial tree with a few sparse ornaments, and all white lights. It's probably very pretty to the children who don't remember the trees of old.

I stood there on that corner for the parade, which began with the local school band........THE ONLY BAND TO MARCH IN THE PARADE.......(all the neighboring towns used to send their bands to march in each other's parades)........and they didn't even play a Christmas tune ! They just did a little rhythmic bump-diddy-bump-bump. Could they not be bothered to practice for a month or so for this special event? I watched the entire parade, consisting of a few very nice floats from local churches and organizations----although there was NO Christmas music on them. Quite a few local pickup trucks drove through with no decorations at all, some four-wheelers made an appearance, and the one highlight of the parade for me.........I heard yelled, "AUNT DOLLY, AUNT DOLLY!", and looked up to see two of my great nephews riding in a parade entry, waving at me like crazy !
The Shriners float came by, the first music-playing float, but they were playing "boot scootin' boogie".........go figure !

The horses then came by, quite a few horses, and one rider on a painted pony looked just like my son-in-law, Tim........I mean exactly !

That was the end........I went to my jeep, slowly worked my way out of the crowd, thankful that the LORD gave me a dependable ride on a cold night, and gladly returned to my humble trailer, where I was greeted at the door by hubby and Piper dog.

So glad to be home for the night.............gotta stop looking back. This world is not my home.......my home is in HEAVEN.........and this one's just temporary. So, I'll make the best of it, and pray that the LORD shows me why he's brought me back here!