Long, Long Ago

Long, long ago, yet it seemed like only yesterday, a tiny little boy rode in his very first Christmas parade, in the back of the Cub Scout wagon.  To his chagrin, his mother rode with him-- knowing that he had been voted the child most likely to jump out of the back of a moving truck.  *



He was a tiger cub that year, his first grade year, and the start of a long tradition of parade appearances.

Throughout Cub Scouts, then on into band, the boy grew--and the parades went on.  And the boy was in all of them -- except one, him being sick that year.  And thus, at long last, though it seemed as but a vapor, we come to his final year in high school. 

It was with pride, but not without a twinge of sadness, that this boy's mother watched her son march in his very last Grenada County Christmas Parade.




The NJROTC unit:



An old car:




An actual float:



The High School Band:



And Santa!



The reason for the season:



Yes, we still pray before football games and we dare you to try to stop us.  We have a nativity on our town square, and we will defend it at all costs.  Us small Southern towns are like that, you know.

Now, where I was sitting, I wasn't able to get a video of the band playing.  I got one of them marching, and I kept sending strong mental vibes for them to start playing, but they didn't.  However, since they play the same song every year, I can post one from a couple of years ago for you.



This video is from year before last.**   However, you can clearly see Cody in it.  He's the second tuba player over.

And just for nostalgia's sake, while I was grabbing the code for that video, here is the one from his very first time marching as a Band member, when he was in 7th grade.  He is the second sousaphone from the far side:



I took more pictures, and if you're interested in seeing them, they can be found here:


by rgunstream

Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I need to go crawl under the covers and wonder where the time went...



*This isn't Cody's cub scout float.  It's the one from this year's parade. 


**Last year, I had to run straight to the square from work, and didn't even have time to run home and grab a jacket, much less my camera.