Christmas Parade

We had gathered with hundreds of others to watch the lighting of the Town Christmas Tree last weekend.  But today the season began in earnest with the annual Christmas Parade.  We had a busy day planned - leaving immediately after the parade to visit Martha's aunt Anne in Clemson and take in a Sunday matinee performance of Miracle on 34th Street - so I completed my long run of ten miles yesterday.  It has been a beautiful weekend, temperatures in the 50s, good for running and good for watching this small-town celebration, unabashedly Christian and uniquely Highlands.

The Highlands Hurricane Swim Team has had a good season, and their impressive float early in the parade was a highlight:

There were many runners in the parade as well.  Bill and his wife Mary are members of our running club, and Bill justly takes pride in his fine old Ford:

And Bob, the unofficial Club Photographer, was out in his old truck, taking pictures of bystanders all along the way as they took pictures of him.

Most of our local churches were well-represented, and I have no doubt that if we had a synagogue in Highlands they would be welcome to celebrate Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights.  The Methodists always have the classic sheep, and an attractive young Mary and Joseph on a donkey.

They are known, too, for the camels, one of them led by our faithful runner Fred, who probably ran yesterday, too, because his camel-tending duties take precedent on this day.

The ladies of the Mountain Garden Club are always a big hit, too; they work for months on an intricately-choreographed number that usually ends with a chorus line.  Such a wonderful sight to see our friends and neighbors being silly and not minding a bit!

And of course Santa must bring up the rear, high on his sled.  For years this role was filled by Buck Trott, who was also Mayor and thus rode in a car toward the front of the parade (usually driven by Martha's dad Alan in his T-model), which required a quick change and transport from front to back in some mysterious fashion.  Both of them are gone now, and there is a tinge of sadness as we remember those who ride in parades only in our memories.

So this is small Town life at its best, the secular rubbing shoulders with the sacred, the students from the Highlands Biological Station raising high a spotted-red salamander banner, three wise men carrying gifts for a King, Smoky the Bear and the Grinch and the Tooth Fairies from the Dental Clinic cavorting and distributing candy, the corny and the scriptural, the profound and the silly, children on floats pulled by tractors and trucks singing sweet carols. 

On a day like this we appreciate Highlands more than ever!