Christmas nibbles #2



It started off well enough (read that as dry enough)

But almost as soon as the parade started,

so did the rain.

(and when I say rain, I mean rain.
Not a bit of drizzle. Not a light sun shower. No. I mean very. heavy. precipitation.)

But the parade went on,

with (mostly) smiling and (consistently) wet clowns, acrobats, camels,

belly dancers, dogs, band members, Scouts and more.

Further along, some of the younger  participants

and some of those more scantily clad

did start to look a little bit on the goose bumpy side.

We chose...OK, I chose to stay at our kerbside viewpoint,

rather than fight amongst the stampede of umbrellas and jostle in the under-awning space.

S.A.T.U.R.A.T.E.D

Not just with a capital S.
The whole bloomin' word can be in capitals.

But as Santa appeared,

so did a little blue sky for a minute

and the 8 year old announced

that it was Santa's magic

that had brought the sunshine.

(It is a shame Santa's magic didn't whisk us immediately home to the warm bath

because 3 young kids were feeling rather cold and uncomfortable by the time

we got back to the car heater
and heck knows mummy could have used a coffee by then too)

But there was a lesson learnt that the spirit of those people in the parade

and those who stayed to watch,

in spite of the pouring rain,

was something to be appreciated and celebrated.

I at least got all sooky la-la (as I am prone to do at this time of year)
explaining this to the three drowned rats
as we dragged ourselves back to the car.
I am not sure that they quite shared the sentiment
but I think they understood that this is one parade that they would remember in the future
when all the others started to blur into the same memory.