Just another thing Canada does better

On Saturday the girls and I bundled up and headed into the city for the Santa Claus parade. We got coffee, bought fresh donuts (YUM) and got to the perfect viewing point nice and early. There were TONS of people, we had to fight to keep our spot...personal space does not exist here, I think that people truly believe that if they shove hard enough that extra 1 cm that they gain will improve them view tenfold, and shove they do! The woman who stood behind me was holding a toddler who she shoved into my back so that the child, who had a horrible cold, could cough right into my face making sure that I was able to enjoy each and every sneeze. But we figured that the Santa Claus parade, especially in a city as large as this, would be epic enough to completely overshadow the shoving crowds and sneezing children. Oh how wrong were we!!

The parade kicked off with some REAL reindeer, at first this seemed pretty cool but upon closer observation you could see the total and complete fear in the eyes of the clearly tortured reindeer so that kinda killed that excitement. Santa walked by (not in a sleigh?!?!) with who else by the mayor who was oddly carrying a basket with a blanket in it (don’t ask). Then came some pretty cool costumes: christmas puddings and crackers, christmas decorations on roller-skates, a snowman which was zipping around on some type of cart and an oddly placed leprechaun which was completely lit up (beard included) by mini lights! The leprechaun should have been the clue that something was off...but yet we were still grasping onto the hopes that the parade would put us in the Christmas spirits. We started to question the integrity of the parade when Chinese dragons and carnival dancers on stilts walked by. A couple of women went by on a float (note: this ended up to be the ONLY float in the parade and it wasn’t even decorated) signing.....they only sang one song. Over and over. There was then a lag in the parade, we thought, like at home, there was a holdup somewhere and more floats/oddly costumed people would be coming by shortly. We waited patiently until a street cleaner drove down the street and we then realized that the parade was over....words can not even begin to describe our disappointment. If Blessington (the blink-and-you-miss-it gathering of houses in the middle of the country that my parents live in) had a Christmas parade it would be better!!!!  

While the city of Birmingham completely failed at treating the public to an enjoyable Christmas parade their lights do help to redeem this tragic experience. They have lights everywhere, ones with falling stars which are pretty cool. I will try to take some decent photos to post in the near future!

I can’t help but be jealous knowing that my Canadian family and friends are able to experience a Christmas parade worthy of true Christmas festive spirit and excitement!