Advent at Our House IV

Seeing the Neighborhood
We often gather the little ones in a stroller for a walk in our downtown neighborhood. We had begun to notice neighbors' houses with wreaths on windows and doors, a tree inside or a string of lights along the roof, so we planned to see a little more.

One lovely warm afternoon while the sky was bright blue and the Gingkos were still golden, Lucy and I stroll the few blocks to join the crowds on the sidewalk for the annual Christmas Parade. It was very long with lots of empty space between bands, floats and riders.

It was exciting, but our highlight was not of Santa's arrival at the end. It was an encounter with 'Elvis.' After his long walk, the impersonator reversed his route and walked along at the edge of the spectators to return to his vehicle. When he spotted Lucy, he turned back, bent down in all his red and white finery and said, "Hello, Little Red. Murry Chrusmas." After a bit more conversation, he walked on. The picture on a CD cover is quite convincing that perhaps the one who is singing all those great Christmas songs is "our Elvus."

An evening walk to the library (usually a two mile round-trip) had the fun addition of checking the lights and decorations a couple of streets over in the business district. We passed the big trees in front of our municipal building which were draped with lights in vertical dribbles and later never fully lit -- boo hiss! We checked the light-poles which were bedecked with new garland and lights and the lighted 'fountain' which replaced the water on one of our favorite fountains. We passed James Brown's statue with it's canopy of lights. We raced over to the big tree in the Common. There we found the magic.

We came home. Our own tree twinkled its welcome.

AAB