'Tis the Season!

Last Friday Mom, Aunt Stephanie and I did something none of us had ever done before: we marched in the Coeur d'Alene Christmas Parade. Mom is on the board of the new local Boys & Girls Club and somehow recruited Stephanie and me into marching with the group. The purpose of our march was to let people know there is a new Boys & Girls Club in town and we're raising support for the yet-to-be-built clubhouse. I've only attended the CdA Christmas Parade once, many years ago. It is definitely a small town get-together. The parade takes place on Sherman Avenue, the main street in downtown CdA, and ends just past the CdA Resort. Floats mostly consist of Dodge trucks covered in lights with children dressed up like elves dancing around as they slowly crawl past the observers.

Unfortunately, nature did not cooperate with us and it poured rain the entire evening. Did we give up? Never! It's for the children, after all! So at 4:45pm our small group gathered in front of the Super 1 grocery store on Sherman and prepared ourselves. There were about 10 adults and 15 kids. Of course we had the Dodge truck with lights -- which took off without us and for the first 5 minutes of the parade was about 100 yards ahead of us. I'm sure onlookers were a bit bemused by our lack of cohesion. Instead of just marching down the street not saying anything to the crowds, we decided we needed a chant. Now, back in my days as a youth delegate to the Republican Convention, we had a chant that was infectious and effective so of course it popped into my mind: "Hey, hey, ho, ho, Bill Clinton's got to go!" Of course this wouldn't be appropriate for the Boys & Girls Club, we want children of all political persuasions to come so we can properly educate them into Bush-supporters. So I changed the words to "Hey, hey, ho, ho, kids need a place to go!" This was quickly adopted as our anthem and we merrily chanted our way down Sherman Avenue. I must admit that old habits are hard to break and I found myself lapsing back into the Bill Clinton chant but I tried very hard to stick to the new lyrics.

I learned something very interesting about being on the opposite side of a parade. I've attended numerous parades but I've never marched in one before. So after marching in this one, I decided to never stand there staring at the passersby with a dumb or puzzled look on my face. Parade watchers look like a group of cows blankly staring at the humans mooing at them as they whiz by in a car. Perhaps they were just puzzled by our particular crazy group but I have a feeling all the floats received a similar response. From now on, I'm going to wave and smile at the parade marchers and make them feel they are important even if they do look strange dressed up like an elf or Christmas box. Parades need to be about participation, not just observation!

Surprisingly, the parade went very quickly as we marched and chanted our way down the street. Mom, Aunt Stephanie and I all had our umbrellas so we stayed fairly dry but it was still chilly. The crowds weren't as big this year due to the rain, but they still lined the streets to watch us march past.

After the parade, we joined the crowds in front of the CdA Resort for their annual tree lighting ceremony and fireworks display. CdA is known for our spectacular fireworks displays at Christmas and the 4th of July. This was no exception. With Mannheim Steamroller blasting in our ears, we watched the night sky light up with a gorgeous array of fireworks. Even with the rain, it was a magical evening. Aunt Stephanie had never seen a CdA fireworks display and loved every minute. That fireworks show really does feel like the kick-off for the Christmas season. The Mannheim Steamroller music, fireworks, festive lights covering downtown and happy families gathered really makes you glad you live in a small community that still cherishes the Christmas season.

Merry Christmas!