Lakeland Christmas Parade

It really feels like Christmas is upon us now. I have my Thanksgiving decorations put away and my Nativity scenes up (pictures to come) and we've attended our first Lakeland Christmas parade.

Charlotte was allowed to stay up extra late (3 hours after her normal bedtime!) just for this special event and having her there made it so much more fun.

Because the parade is such a popular event in Lakeland, I scoped out a spot for us to sit about 4 hours before the parade's 7 pm kick-off. Boy am I glad I did. It was crowded when we finally arrived at 6:15 and our seats were pretty good (just near the judges stand).

I think Charlotte's favorite part of the parade were the floats playing loud music that she could dance too. Many a float rider got a kick out of watching her shake and bounce to their music.



We were also right on the lake and had a front seat for the fireworks show that begins the night's festivities.






Mary was dressed in her Christmas warmest and didn't seem to mind the fireworks noise at all, even though we were so close.



Many of the parade participants seemed to enjoy seeing Mary watch the parade. I even had a special moment with a woman portraying Mary, the mother of Jesus, as she rode past on her float carrying her own baby. It is hard to describe, but I had a Mommy Moment with her in which we immediately bonded over the babies in our laps.



And what parade post would be complete without photos of some of our favorite participants?!


(Click on this one to read the front windshield!)





(This is the woman I had my "moment" with!)

Have you been to your town's Christmas parade yet? What was your favorite part?

Comments

  1. AnonymousSat Dec 05, 02:19:00 PM EST

    And for all you die-hard Southern Baptists, the float with the Nativity was from Southside Baptist Church, which is where Al Mohler (president of the Southern Baptist Seminary) grew up and was baptized.

    Bruce

    ReplyDelete

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