Monday, December 1, 2008

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!

5 comments:

Callie said...

This looks like so much fun! We are going for sure next year when we have some toasty clothes to wear!

Christine said...

holy cow there were a lot of people there! Did you have room to stand? We'll have to try for next year but I'm not so sure marcus will even like it...he wasn't really interested in seeing santa last year..but maybe he gets it more...so the twins are so funny with thier pogo sticks...do they even make those things anymore? They were telling me all about what they wanted on sunday and i was just laughing but now i guess they really do want a pogo stick...can't wait to see it! I used to love bouncing on our back patio with one of those...seriously though where are you buying it from?

Kristi said...

You were not kidding about the thousands of people thing. That was out-of-control crowded. I bet the kids love it though, all except that cute little Adeline. She is one smart cookie. I too would be frightened by a large, old man dressed in red had I not been soaked in Christmas culture for one month out of every year for the last 28 years. She'll understand soon enough. Jolly times + toys = Big, old man in red

Autumn said...

Wow, I am bummed I missed out on the tradition. Though, I can sympathize with the Santa pic - we have yet to have a year when someone wasn't screaming on Santa's lap. Somehow, he's nothing but scary until you make the connection that this is the man who will give you toys. Then you will willingly wait forever in line.

Bettie Claire said...

The boys are getting sooo big! I so wish you could pick up your little corner of Central Point and drop ship it to White House, TN. You and your friends are awsome and I know you'll never leave them! Just wishing you were my neigbor so I can hug and kiss those cute kids!