Superfans!

Last night The Banana, Mr. TOF and I bundled up and headed downtown to see the Devious Snail march in the Christmas City of the North Parade. It was cold and windy, but we put on a lot of layers and it was just fine. We left Peanut Maximus with Dr. Peds because he would have been miserable.

We waited for our school marching band near the plaza because the Christmas lights are really pretty there. Because it was so cold, it wasn’t crowded, even though there were people lining the whole parade route. When the band came by we were so excited that we decided to follow them for the rest of the parade route since it was the Devious Snail’s senior year and last parade. It ended up being just a riot of fun. We would walk behind the people watching on the sidewalk (there was plenty of room because the spectators always crowd into the street, which drives me bonkers every year) and when the band stopped, we stopped. When the band moved, we moved. When there was a break in the spectators, we jumped into the crowd for numerous great views.

The Devious Snail was on the end of his row, which was terrific for the camera. We thought he might be mad that we kept popping up again and again in the crowd, but actually he didn’t even notice us!

When the band finally turned the corner off the street at the end of the route, we started walking back to the parking ramp and watched the rest of the parade on the way. The parade wasn’t quite over when we were back to where we parked the car, but we decided that we didn’t need to necessarily see the rest, and headed home. I think it might have been our most fun time at the parade yet!

The parade always feels a little nostalgic to me, and maybe it is because it started in the 1950’s or 1960’s and it is televised locally. That was such a big deal historically, and they keep the tradition even now. I still don’t know why the Christmas parade happens before Thanksgiving, but even though that feels so wrong to me (I’m not a fan of Christmas before Thanksgiving at all) I do see the wisdom because it is only going to get colder for the parade marchers the later it is scheduled.

We probably won’t go again until Mr. TOF is playing, but then we will have a few more years of parade watching, and Peanut Maximus will be the prime age to enjoy it.