Santa Claus is Coming to Town!

Or rather...he's already arrived!

The weekend before Thanksgiving, Santa made his grand entrance at the annual Midland Santa Holiday Parade.

We found out about the parade just a couple days before (being new in town, we rely a lot on word of mouth for such events that we shouldn't miss).  It turned out that the parade route was just up the street from us, and since Brad was out of town for the day (at the Michigan/Iowa game in Ann Arbor), the boys and I bundled up and walked the two short blocks to find a curbside view for the big event.

This parade was really something special.  I can't say we've taken the boys to a parade with outdoor temps in the mid 30s, so that made the experience all the more unique for us.  But the parade itself was huge.  So many entries (the usual businesses and politicians advertising themselves, as well as school bands and churches, etc, etc, etc) and so. much. candy.  Seriously.  We walked away with more candy from the parade than we did on Halloween night.  The beauty of it all, though (for me anyway) was that it was a holiday parade.  Christmas Christmas and more Christmas!  I love Christmas!  It was a wonderful way to kick off the holiday season!  

Completely elated when he caught his "favorite candy ever!"

The parade has a theme each year, and this year it was "A Hollywood Holiday."  There were quite a few floats carrying this theme, but this one was definitely my favorite. :)

We happened to sit by a classmate of Drew's.  It was fun to see Drew hang with a buddy outside of the classroom.

Our favorite celebrity sighting.

The grand finale...

Santa Claus!

And Drew did notice that his reindeer were fake.  A quick explanation that the real reindeer were in training for the big night seemed to suffice. 

OH!  And when one particularly musical vehicle passed by, Reed caught the jitter bug and put on his dancing shoes.  I wish I would've had our video camera, but this slideshow captures it pretty accurately.  Enjoy. :)

Reed Dances-Large from Brad Vander Waal on Vimeo.

And here's a bit of trivia for you...did you know that Santa's house is right here in Midland?!?!

It sure is.

We can't wait to pay him a visit.