In our house, today is a special day – Santa Claus Parade Day. It marks the unofficial beginning of the Christmas season because it is not only the day that Santa comes to town but also the day that our tree goes up. Unfortunately, although the tree did go up it did not get decorated. You see, we actually went downtown to the parade today instead of just watching it on tv. As a result, Elspeth did not take a nap and almost fell asleep at the dinner table. Plus, Katrine had to go to bed earlier tonight because she has early morning ice tomorrow. Glenn did put the tree up but it won’t actually be decorated until tomorrow because it is more fun to decorate with the girls than without them. As for the parade, it is an awesome experience to actually see the size of the floats and to hear the bands live. That said, we didn’t get there early enough to get a seat so man am I sore from holding Elspeth (even though Glenn held her more). Both girls were fascinated. A highlight for Katrine was seeing one of her China sisters on a float and for Elspeth it was waving to Santa.
Even though we were all tired and hungry after the parade we decided to walk over to the Eaton Center to see the displays. I remember doing this as a kid with my parents. I also remember going down about 19 years ago when Glenn and I first started going out (it was alot easier to navigate the crowds when there were just two of us and no stroller). Both girls were impressed with the two storey tall lighted reindeer and I think Katrine thought that was it…then we got to the four windows outside of the Bay. Magic! Neither of them wanted to leave. In fact, Elspeth was repeating “More, more, more” as we were walking away. The displays were just as magical as I remember them from childhood. We are all happily exhausted and the tree didn’t get decorated but the girls got to see a little bit of Christmas magic and I thought that I would share it with you in case you don’t have a chance to head down (just remember that each one is animated).
