Countdown to Christmas: Day 5

We live in the County in a small little town (population about 1,000) surrounded by several other small towns, dairy farms, berry farms and corn fields.   One neighboring town (of Dutch descent) decorates the town with lights and has a lighted Christmas parade every year!  This town is only about 10 minutes from us so despite the adverse weather we decided to bundle up and make the drive over to see the parade. 

The parade was a "quiet parade" as far as parades go - no bands or music to speak of which surprised us, but the turnout was surprising for a small town!  There were all ages of people, from young to old  lining the sidewalks of the 10 block long parade.  The weather was frigid and everywhere you looked, hats, gloves, scarves and heavy coats were the norm.  The smart ones brought blankets and sat in lawn chairs (we were 1/2 way there with the lawn chairs, but did not have blankets).  The anticipation on every one's faces both young and old was something to behold!  The cold cut though us all, but we waited in anticipation of the first lights to appear and appear they did with a blaze of lights as the best decorated firetruck drove into sight.


I am obviously not a photographer, but here is the fire truck!

The firetruck was followed by decorated big rigs, farming vehicles, horse drawn carriages, police cars, motorcycles (and sidecars), a bus and even a Duck (a search and rescue vehicle that can travel land and water).

Daddy with our girls, trying to stay warm!

The parade lasted for just over a half hour with just under 50 entries (it seemed like much longer due to the cold).  The parade itself was not impressive when compared to productions done by large cities, but it was perfect for us - in the eyes of our girls the parade was larger than life and they loved it which meant that we (Mom & Dad) loved it as well.  The parade will continue to be part of our Christmas traditions in the years to come.  The parade was followed by a trip to Dairy Queen for burgers, chicken strips, onion rings and fries (a perfect dinner according to our youngest).  We started to thaw out while we sat there commenting on the parts of the parade that we liked......my favorite part was that the family was sharing, talking, laughing and eating - a perfect end to a perfect night! 

Perfection is often found in the imperfect and if you look hard enough you can always find your little piece of paradise if you are happy living in and enjoying the mundane!