I-I-I-I-I-I...LOVE a parade........

Ahhh yes, the 74th Annual Roy Martin Christmas Parade took place a week ago today and it was a success as usual. The weather was cold and crisp with the sun peaking out from behind the clouds every now and then. Just a perfect COLD Delta winter day. Cold being the operative word because man it was COLD. Thank goodness for dear friends like Suresh Chawla who loaded up the entire hot drink dispenser assembly line at the Hampton Inn and brought it to our house! Boy did that save the day! Thanks Suresh! Wish I would have gotten a picture of the hot drink table at our house under the carport. It was a popular spot! (I gotta do better with my picture taking....geesh Lisa)

Marion Howard was the parade Marshall this year. Her sister, Gay, is good friends with my Aunt Craig and so all of Marion's family was stationed at our house. It was great to see all of them! I hope they come back next year! As usual a good game of "yard ball" was of constant occurance during the parade. Kids would come and go...back and forth to the street for a glimpse of Santa only to realize that he's not even close yet because Santa brings up the tail end of the parade. So back to the gridiron they went!

Thanks also to so many dear family and friends that brought the food spread like I have never seen before! (nope, no pic here either...good job Lisa) (Not sure why I'm enjoying speaking in the 3rd person here so please ignore if it bothers you). If you left our house hungry after the parade it was your own fault that is for sure! Again...it was a large time and I think everyone had a lot of fun.

We will need to start gearing up for next year because it's the 75th anniversary! Not many "anythings" have a 75th anniversay much less a parade and ours happens to be the oldest in the State and runs a close second in size to the St. Paddy's in Jackson. Word on the street here in Greenwood is that the "powers that be" of the parade planning committee are planning to pull out allll the stops and pull whatever strings possible to get every band from each University in the State to perform at the 75th. WOW is all I have to say if they can pull that off!!! You see...years past all of those bands DID come to the Roy Martin parade. Ole Miss, State, and Southern all came to Greenwood to perform. Along with Jackson State, Alcorn, Valley, etc....I can even remember as a child my parents bringing us up to Greenwood from Belzoni to join other family members and friends at the old Irvin Hotel (now the Alluvian) and we would watch the parade from one of the rooms upstairs overlooking Howard Street. I can only hope that the parade memories my kids are absorbing will stick in their minds the way they stuck in mind growing up.

Here are the pictures from the parade that I was able to snap or have snapped! Enjoy!
Craig and Cary with Gay and her husband

Yardball in full swing

Anne Craig and Madison Barlow

Annie and Rick enjoying the parade

T and Hayes Dale and their beautiful family! We had a great surprise visit from them! They just happen to be town parade day and stopped by.

Me and Floyd "the hosts"

David Camp, Mark Vemer, and Jim Quinn taking it all in

parade Grand Marshall, Marion Howard

Moms and Ainsley

Anne Craig and Madison Quinn

Walker and Cyndi Saia

Craig joining in for some yardball

Cary, Craig and Elizabeth Melton

Kelley Bush, Jacob Clark, Lisa and Steven Cookston



Well, who's ready for Christmas?? Anyone?? Anyone?? I am fairly ready physically I suppose but mentally...not so much. I did get my Christmas cards in the mail this week and that's an accomplishment in itself. Floyd's cooking marathon is 75% complete and he seems to think we are a week ahead of schedule with everything....Not so sure I'm on board with that optimism. Maybe when I get out of school on Dec. 18th the Christmas spirit may miraculously overtake my existence but until then I'm having a hard time grasping...My house is all decorated and ready thanks to my dear friend, Margie Barger, who came and worked her magic on everything. Don't know what I would do without Margie. I hope to never find out! Shopping wise...I've accomplished a lot at this point but nothing is wrapped. My goal this weekend is to get that job done! It looks like it's gonna be a rainy Saturday tomorrow so there will be no excuse but to stay inside and wrap til my heart's content. Here's an idea...pop in some Christmas movies and wrap away. Sounds like a plan! I hope everyone is having a fantastic holiday season thus far. Enjoy this magical time with your children and families. I will say that it's wonderful to watch the kids run all over the house each morning looking for Elfie (our Elf on the Shelf) to see where he has landed each day back from his nightly journey to the North Pole to report into Santa on how Floyd and Anne Craig have been behaving each day.

Merry Merry Everyone!