A Charlie Brown Christmas

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...









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











































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















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?



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:





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









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











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