Christmas Parade

Today was the day of the annual Christmas Parade in Highlands, so our Saturday morning running group was sparsely attended; only Skip, Bob, and Sam showed up, and I ended up doing the last five miles in my eight-mile run by myself.  I circled the block by Highlands School several times and noticed increasing activity every mile, and finally, by 10:30 or so, vehicles and floats were beginning to assemble over by Harris Lake.

There is nothing like a small-town Christmas parade! - lots of fire trucks and other emergency vehicles, the High School band (this year, inexplicably, the Franklin High School band marched), the Garden Club and their choreographed program, several vintage T-birds and Corvettes, many cute dogs attired in their seasonal best, the men of the free Dental Clinic dressed up like tooth fairies, and of course the Mayor up at the front and Santa in the rear. It is an interesting mixture of the secular and the religious (as, indeed, Christmas in America has become).

The Highlands parade also boasts something many small parades do not have - real camels, handled by three stalwart men from the Methodist Church, and Joseph leading Mary on a real donkey - "The Reason for the Season "  The camels are huge creatures, and somewhat alarming up close as they swing their heads curiously over the crowds lining Main Street. 

A Christmas Parade is not for the cynical!  Some years it seems as if there are more people in the parade than watching it.  But as I walked along Main Street, I found myself exchanging greetings of Merry Christmas again and again, with dozens of friends and neighbors and complete strangers. Of course it was bittersweet, tinged by memories of my Mom who used to enjoy these parades every year and my Father-in-Law who always drove the Mayor in his T-model, both of them gone and missed.  But life goes on and the parade takes place each year regardless of those who are no longer here.  That mysterious warmhearted suspension of everyday life this time of year that we call "The Christmas Spirit" began to materialize in Highlands this morning as Advent begins.