Santa Claus Parade

the Town Criers

not often you see a clown with a walker...

from the clown academy

the Lady of the Lake, and her first and second princesses

This is an organization that is part of the Mason's, for young women

well that was a first for me - playing the electric guitar in a marching band.

I went to the local Santa Claus Parade last night, here in Victoria. It was at night, so my first nighttime parade. All the floats were lit right up, and I have to say, there were several really nice floats, and they looked so pretty in the dark with their vibrant colors. I went with my friend A. and her husband and their wee one, 2 years old. It was his first parade and his father enjoyed watching his son's reaction to the parade just as much or more than the parade. Wee one would call out to the floats/trucks "see you tomorrow truck!" and "Happy Christmas!" So cute! The weather was perfect, no rain, no wind, and just crisp enough to feel like its the right time of year for a Santa Claus Parade. The streets were packed with excited folks. The papers estimated that last year they had between 50,000 to 60,000 come for the parade. This year, they estimated that about 65-70,000 people came out last night. We were standing opposite to where the television crew was set up, so I think we probably showed up in a lot of their footage as the filmed the parade as it passed by. I took a ton of photos, but am just posting a few here. My Canon rebel takes great night photos.

T'was a lovely fine parade. Then my friend A. and I went out for a girls night a the house of another friend's. Five women, several bottles of wine (and my beers), a bowl of jello and a birthday cake later. Today I'm feeling the jello...