Victoria's Very Lame Santa Parade

OK, so as little as I felt like it, in the interest of giving our kid a "well-rounded childhood" we all bundled up and headed down to the very lame Island-Farms sponsored Santa Claus Parade on Saturday night.

First of all we were treated to a show by some poorly behaved kids and their inconsiderate parents. Basically the very second that the road was closed off, these kids all screamed out into the middle of the road for a rowdy game of tag. Fine for older kids but some of these children were barely toddling (and they mostly kept doing faceplants on the pavement). Happliy our kid showed no signs of wanting to join in.

Then as the parade started, the floats started to appear, our child alternately buried her head in her Dad's shoulder and covered her ears. Just as Santa appeared, she started screaming and kicking so we had to cut across the parade to get back to the van. Apparently she was tired because she fell asleep within about 5 minutes of being buckled in.

As for the parade itself, it was a fairly lame affair. Most of the floats were pathetic attempts at thinly-veiled advertizing plus there were two bands (a high school band and one of the local military bands I believe), a dance troupe, some dog-walkers, and some miniature ponies (plus their handlers) who braved the weather (luckily only chilly, not pouring rain). Oh, and lots of loud emergency vehicles of varied vintage, including an old fire engine with the Mayor on board. Yippee.

Man, I really hate attending parades. Hubby thinks my mom turned me against them, but I think it's just common sense. It feels a lot like being trapped standing on a crowded bus on a really long route with every window open. Maybe I would feel different attending a big parade like the Rose Bowl, but then again probably not. =Shrug=