Waynesville Christmas Parade

There's not too much to say about the Waynesville Christmas Parade, except that we went and that we had a swell parking place in the lot of the pawn shop across the street from Bogart's.

It ended up being a good thing the car was close by when Freddie "shared" his Ginger Ale with Jones by pouring it down the front of Jones's outfit. A perfectly-timed "push" of the can when it was Jones's turn to drink was all it took to send Big Brother, freezing, into the warmth of our van.

Side note: if I ever run away, it'll be stuff like that that has pushed me out the door. It's not necessarily malicious; it's just mischievous and, when you have to deal with it 947 times in the course of a single day, it's enough to make a person lose her ever-loving mind.

Or maybe it's just enough to make ME lose my mind.

Regardless, my mind is currently so lost that I was thankful Nature called before the parade started. It gave me an excuse to walk the two blocks to Jeremy's office and kill the next fifteen minutes in the sweetest solitude I've ever tasted.

I had to force myself to rejoin the pack, getting back just before the Ginger Ale "incident." I then spent the rest of the evening trying to keep Freddie warm and trying to decide if he was just faking it when he said he had to go potty.

Jones, on the other hand, was in the catbird seat. According to Jeremy, who joined him in the car a little while after Jones first climbed in, Jones narrated the parade, giving a play by play of every float, which, if you know Jones at all, isn't even one itty bit surprising.

Thursday nite is the Christmas Parade here in Canton. Of course, we're planning to be there. I am NOT, however, planning to pack a Ginger Ale.

Canton Christmas Parade

In the Pressley family, we make a point of NEVER missing a parade. Because Gatlinburg's tragic wildfires canceled today's plans to go to Dollywood (we were going, so Jones could see the decorations / parade there, ironically enough), we were able to go to the Canton Christmas Parade, which the boys have seen each of the last three years.

This year's parade was more fun than I remember the previous years' being. That's most likely because the bigger the boys get, the more they enjoy everything, and also because we sat at the start of the route for the first time, instead of at its end, so those on floats still had candy to pass out when they got to our seats, parked adjacent to the Japanese restaurant.

Freddie appointed himself as the getter of the candy. He showed zero fear - or sense - when it came to jumping in the street to pick up whatever had been thrown at our feet. He also showed no restraint when helping himself to his treasures. Where Jones would sweetly ask, "Mama, may I please have this?" Freddie would just take the wrapper off and eat it - until he picked up something he wanted more. The massive bag of treats we took home must've contained twenty six half eaten DumDum suckers, as well as what I THINK (HOPE!) was a partially masticated Tootsie Roll.

It was colder then it's been all season. Since Jeremy just met us there after work, I took him a sweatshirt, and as a little jab, I took his UK pullover. Someone riding in the back of a float saw it and yelled, "Big Blue Nation!" And I, of course, shouted back, "Go, Cats!"

It was awesome.

Unfortunately, there aren't any "awesome" pictures from the parade. The light was too low in the spot where we were sitting, but still. These will at least help us remember a little bit of our annual tradition of seeing the Canton Christmas Parade with Nana and Pop. We're hoping to go to the Waynesville Parade tomorrow nite, but they're expecting rain, so we shall see ...

When he heard some music start up,
Jones broke into the Hot Dog Dance.

I loved this float. 

Freddie, picking up candy

At the end of the parade,
someone threw beads.
The boys were BESIDE themselves.