Santa Claus Parade

Well, I really wanted to take Sam to the Santa Claus Parade. Here in Barrie it's lots of fun because the parade runs in the evening after the sun has gone down, and all the floats are lit up with hundreds of little Christmas lights. There's lots of wonderful music and everyone is so happy. I've gone the last couple years and really enjoyed it.

Yesterday was the Santa Claus Parade, and the plan was to go. However, my mom was here to visit and we spent a good chunk of the day running around doing errands, dragging Sammy all over the place. He didn't get a proper nap all day, and it was very cold and windy. So when we got back to my house at 4:30 and the parade started at 5, and Sam needed to eat dinner, as did we, I figured we wouldn't be able to make it. The parade isn't exceptionally fast, so I knew in my head that as long as we made it downtown by 6, we'd still get to see the floats pass by (it ends in the downtown, so it usually takes about an hour to get there). To make a long story short, by 5:30, Sam had eaten and we were just starting to make our meal. I told my mom not to worry, we wouldn't bother going because it was too late. I was sad, but figured I was tired and hungry and needed to eat. However, the whole time, stewing around in my brain was the thought that Sam would love it....and I felt bad I wasn't taking him. So around 6 pm, while we were sitting down eating our meal and Sam was playing with some Cheerios on his tray, I turned to my mom and said "Do you mind finishing later? We should go."

She laughed, and then we proceeded to grab Sam, bundle him up, grab our coats, toques and mitts, and run out the door. I sped downtown, hoping to catch the floats as they passed by the end of their route. As we passed the No Frills, I noticed a float sitting in the parking lot being dismantled. Mom yelled out "Maybe there will still be some floats, let's try!"

We continued along our route until we came to a police car with flashing lights blocking off the road. We pulled over to the side of the road as some brightly lit floats passed by. My mom took Sam out of his carseat and rolled down the window and held him up so he could see. He was SO excited! He looked left to right to left and back again, eyes as wide as saucers, yelling at the floats and waving his little hands. He was thrilled. Little did he know that he only got to see about 6 floats, that they were in the process of starting to dismantle, that several floats went a different route, including the grand finale Santa Claus. It was wonderful to see his excitement. I'm glad he got to see a bit of the parade. Next year, no matter how hungry I might be, we'll be in the front row when Santa comes rolling through.