Thursday, December 13, 2012

A Charlie Brown Christmas

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A week ago, Missy and I headed into downtown Athens to see the annual ATHENS CHRISTMAS PARADE. I grew up playing trumpet in competitive MARCHING BANDS, so parades always have a special sentimental place in my heart...I love parades! Each year, the Athens Christmas Parade has a different theme and much to our delighted surprise, this year's theme was "A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS". We walked through the staging area of the parade and got a little preview of all the parade floats. It was interesting (and hilarious) to see everyone's different interpretation of the theme...since we are in Athens, after all, a good number of parade floats had bands on them and live music...

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And, of course, there were many variations of SNOOPY on his iconic doghouse...

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Once the parade started, we headed out to the parade route and got a spot across from the bandstand...

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Almost every year, this particular church has a float in the Christmas parade, and every year, their float features a writhing JESUS CHRIST on a cross, screaming in agonizing pain...even with "Charlie Brown" as a theme, they still managed to have the creepiest float in the parade. It's CHRISTMAS, not EASTER! They should have a BABY JESUS, not Jesus on the cross, right?

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The 501st LEGION has been marching in the Christmas parade for the past couple of years and the STAR WARS nerd in me couldn't be happier:

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Athens' own flat-track roller derby team, the CLASSIC CITY ROLLER GIRLS, reprezenting:

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One of the highlights of the night was this DRUM AND BAGPIPE ENSEMBLE that played Vince Guaraldi's classic "LINUS & LUCY"...ON BAGPIPES!

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The Grand Finale: SANTA & MRS. CLAUS always wrap up the parade by magically lighting up the huge CHRISTMAS TREE in front of City Hall...

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1 comment:

Michelle Cornelison Smith said...

This looks so amazing! Wish I had been there. The 5 cent neurosurgery advice is definitely my favorite.