Winterfest

Last night was the annual Tallahassee Winterfest. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this somewhat small-town phenomenon, the nighttime festivities begin with the mayor flipping a switch somewhere downtown and that turns on all the Christmas lights that people have been setting up along the streets and parks in the downtown area. When the lights flick on, the Jingle Bell Run starts. From what I hear, it's quite dramatic.

We didn't quite get there in time, but we made it in time for what we like to affectionately refer to as The World's Longest Parade. And when we got in place to watch the parade, I noticed some part of culture that I haven't been a part of yet. I like to call these people "Parade Moms". They can be dads too, but they're usually mother-wolf type people. Some friends of ours had gotten there at like 2:00 in the afternoon to get a seat in the front and they offered to bring Tommy down with them. Well, actually they just swooped him up and brought him forward (thanks Craig!), and so my mother-in-law went down to sit with him. They then cleared a seat for me, so I got to go too. That's when it happened.

We had been standing about 4 or 5 people deep and so when I made my way the front, I asked the lady in front of me to please excuse me. She turned to me and in a pretty nasty voice said, "And where do you think you're going?" Startled, I said "I have some people down in the front and they have a spot for me". To which she responded with "I don't think so! You're not standing in front of my kids!" I then was finally able to see Tommy sitting on the ground and so I said "No, I'm not standing in front of your kids. I'll be sitting right there with my two-year-old!" She let me by but not before warning me again of the grave dangers of standing in front of her kids.

Really? Do you have to be so worked up about it? I mean, first of all, I would never stand in front of kids in a parade, I would let them be in the front, but second, she's saying this as people in happy gingerbread costumes were walking by. Frosty the Snowman and other jolly Christmas characters were going by at this point and she's being all Bah Humbug. Now I understand it's not just her. This is parade culture. Actually it's parent culture. And I pray I never get caught up in it. Granted, I will protect my children no matter what, but I'll try to do it nicely. And in the meantime we'll be sure to get to parades with at least a few hours to spare so we can grab our seats in the front.

In case you were wondering, Tommy had a blast at Winterfest. He didn't talk much there, but that's because he was taking it all in. The only scary parts were when we were leaving and we had to pass by the people dressed as a giant nutcracker (I have to admit, I was a little scared too!), a gingerbread boy and girl, and Frosty the Snowman. He just cried and pointed in the opposite direction and exclaimed "Go that way! Go that way!" But when we got home and I was tucking him into bed, he couldn't stop talking about everything, especially those characters. Our conversation went something like this:
He said "Tommy saw a big nutcracker?!?"
"Yes you did! What did you do?"
"I waved and said 'Hi Big Nutcracker!'"
Yeah right. Maybe next time, buddy!