Ashland Christmas Parade

OK, so this is not what you are looking for! But literally I am getting tons of hits a day for people looking for the Ashland University Christmas Card, so here is that link, enjoy!! And leave me a message if you want!
http://ecard.ashland.edu/2004admission/index.html


Every year the day after Thanksgiving, we head on down to the city of Ashland for their Christmas Parade. This kicks off the Holiday season for our family. We have lucked out the past few years, and the weather has been chilly, but dry! This year was no exception. We bundled the kids up in all of their hats and scarves, and trekked over to the parade. The only down part, is that literally thousands of other people also kick off their festivities here as well, and parking is a pain in the behind. We never find a great spot, and when we arrive it is still light, and when we leave it is dark, so finding our car after the fun, is always a real treat!! But, even after all of that, and waiting in line to see Santa for over an hour, it is still worth it, and we will return next year.

All the kids were bundle up and ready to go. The parade starts around 4:45 up at the college, and heads all the way down Siskiyou Blvd to the Plaza, ending with the big man himself Santa Claus. There are bands, dancers, carolers, and even a book give away. We were a little late, so we only caught the tail end of the parade, and the books had already been given away. Next year we will arrive earlier. After the parade, everyone who has lined the street follows Santa down to the Plaza, where he heads up to the balcony of Alex's Restaurant. He gives a little speech about being on the Nice List, and we sang a few carols, and then the count down begins for the big illumination! 10,9,8,7,6,5.......

4, 3, 2, 1 Lights On. And the whole city of Ashland lights up! We were told there were over a million lights. WOW. And look at that crowd, there were so many people, it was just amazing!

This is Ashden inside of Santa's Sleigh, the twins were too scared to get inside. They were afraid it would take off, and they would be sent to the North Pole without us!!


Here were some sweet Carolers who kept us entertained while we waited to see Santa. After his duties on the balcony, Ole Saint Nick heads down to one of the Shakespeare theaters to greet the children and listen to what they want for Christmas. (our hour wait would have been much less if the crazy teenage girls would have just let children under 12 sit on Santa's lap, where were their parents!)

We were first greeted by Mrs. Claus, and as you can see, the boys had their eye only on Santa, they know who has the real power.

Aiden with the Ole Lady, he looks a little less than thrilled that he has to wait a few seconds longer to see Santa.

Here are Anden and Ashy, excitedly telling Santa exactly what they want: Anden-a Pogo Stick, and the Firetruck Transformer, whose name is Optimus Prime, but he looks like a firetruck. Anden was adamant to explain all the details to Santa, so that he would not be confused about which transformer he wanted. Ashden just wants a 'BIG GUN' and he said it just as loud with his arms showing the exact size. It is actually a batman gun that he saw in the Toys R Us catalog! Aiden also wants a Pogo Stick, and the Bumble Bee transformer. He has a little more faith in Santa's ability to decipher which transformer he wanted and didn't need to go into many more details. And then came Adeline.....

She wanted nothing to do with Mrs. Claus and even less with Santa!

That is about as good as it gets for the Holley family Christmas card, I guess this photo isn't going in the card. I will post pictures of past Santa visits, they are all about the same at that age!

Here she is after she got her candy cane, and all is well in her world again! So there ends our night, the kids were so excited, the weather was great, we finally found our car after we left Granny waiting on the corner for awhile, but nothing beats a holiday parade!