And at the end comes......

SANTA of course.

He's at the end of just about every Christmas parade around. Once he shows up, you can bet that there will be no more confetti, marching bands, costumed characters, or candy being thrown. Ironically enough, this is the part of the parade that tends to produce tears. Crying from Caleigh that she isn't ready to go, and she wants to wait because there "might be more coming". Tears from me for reasons that I don't fully understand myself. Maybe it's the memories of all those childhood Christmases I had that flood my memory or maybe it is the light of my own child's face as she waves and shouts in true innocense to the man in the big red suit. Whatever it is, the waterworks start at this point. But, there is so much more BEFORE Santa arrives and it is so enjoyable to watch, especially when she is so excited about everything!

We did something that was a first for all of us this year when it comes to parades. We all attended the Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Christmas Parade in downtown Atlanta. Personally, I participated in this parade once when I was younger. I shuttled animals down the long route. This is a very popular televised parade that usually draws very large crowds. We took Mish and her husband and the 5 of us packed our camping chairs and headed into downtown hours before the parade was scheduled in order to claim our viewing area. As the crowds grew, so did the rudeness of some people. Putting that aside, we had an AWESOME time.

Parade Prepared




A present from the clowns pre-parade


The first glimpse of a huge balloon!


Watching mommy's alma mater marching band


Rudolph flying high overhead


A few of the balloons- huge amounts of helium high in the Atlanta sky
Handy Manny

Three Blind Mice

Smurf

Mr. Potato Head

Dennis the Menace



Shaking hands



Mom's favorite


Atlanta Traditions
Pricillia- The Pink Pig


The Coca-Cola Polar Bear



Every year since I can remember, I have been to or been in our hometowm Christmas parade. I missed it the year Caleigh was born. She was just 2 weeks old and I didn't want to take her out into the cold weather. Other than that, I think I have at least attended every year. One of the perks of living in the same place all your life I guess. Caleigh has been every year after the year of her birth though.

And this year, she got to be joined by two of her cousins! She is absolutely crazy about them, but when it came time for the parade, she was all about the show!


My littlest niece is a photo bomber already!


Showing her Nonnie the parade


Caleigh's aunt was in the parade!


Wouldn't be a hometown parade without.... TRACTORS!


And of course, as stated earlier, at the end comes Santa.

Roger

Roger. That's his name. He's the elf that Santa sent to Granny's house to come home with us for the holiday season. He was our pranking, silly, Santa reporting, present giving, elf that ended up making it seem like Christmas everyday for Caleigh. This elf sat on no shelf and did things just a little bit differently than most other elves. He was more like "Buddy" the elf from the movie "Elf" than he was the "Elf on the Shelf". He just wasn't quite right. But then again, Chad and I aren't quite right either, so he fit right in. I should have taken a picture every day of the things that Roger did, however since this was our first year with Roger I didn't get everything but I did get a few great moments. Roger went to report to Santa every night and then returned the next morning. Sometimes he would "land funny" or act crazy or during the 12 days directly before Christmas, he would bring a small present for Caleigh. She was so excited every morning to wake up and see what Roger had done! It got to be so exciting for her that she would get out of bed way earlier than she had to (even during school break!) just to see what he had done. Caleigh actually slept in Christmas morning later than she did on any given Roger morning. She fell in love with her new friend. Below are examples of his antics!

"Landing funny"




Cleaning up after Roger raided the pantry!


He found the family Christmas cookie favorite-white chocolate covered Oreos!


No scooters in the house Roger!!


Uh-oh! Roger caught what Caleigh had!!! OH NO!


Going for a "spin"!


Using mommy's bathroom to get ready!


Camping out in Caleigh's tent in the living room!


Playing checkers with friends!


Using Caleigh's fishing pole to fish for Swedish fish in the potty! OH MY!


Zip-lining back into the house!


It was a sad event on Christmas Eve when we told Caleigh that Roger would be returing to the North Pole until next Christmas season. There was lots of hugging and even tears were shed. She was so brokenhearted to have tell her friend good-bye. She even drew a few tears from some others who shall remain nameless.



Roger didn't just leave her though. He left her a sweet note and a speacial treat to have for breakfast on Christmas morning!


That Roger is one great elf! I can't wait for him to spend the next holiday season at our house. I sure hope he wants to come back as much as we want him to! See you soon Roger!!!!

Bad Blogger

So, I haven't blogged in months. Literally, months. The holidays came and went and I blogged not once. Shame shame. So now I sit here with a season full of experiences and pictures and have done nothing about putting them all together to be shared with everyone. So, hopefully, over the next few days (weeks-whatever) I will be able to put the memories with the photos before any of the "good" parts are lost to my (very short-term- "Thanks" mommy mush brain!) memory.