The City That Never Sleeps...Before 10 p.m.

It was that time of year again for the Safford 6th Annual Light Parade. Shannon's family has taken to attending this each year and enjoying the joy that is the Christmas season in a small town. Last year, we had the right idea by going out to dinner at Casa Manana just prior, leaving our car parked in their parking lot and walking down to the parade route. It worked perfectly. So did we learn to not fix something if it isn't broken? Of course not. This time around, we met up by Safford park and walked several blocks to a spot right out front of the Safford Town Hall. I think we may have accidently found where the designated smoking area is for this event. Anyway, it was not too bad of a walk and we got settled in. That is when all confusion broke loose as the Safford Fire Alarm went off right at 7:00 p.m. straight up. Not kidding. We all thought it was the way they were announcing the beginning of the parade, but then fire trucks started cutting through the crowd to get out and then nobody had any idea what was going on. In the final analysis, I have come up with what really happened. The Safford Fire Dept. forgot about the parade. That wouldn't have worked because they were the final entry and had Santa on board. I subscribe to this theory because there were actually two fire engines that were headed in two different directions right at 7:00 p.m. and when they finally came around the corner as the last parade entry, their Christmas light offering was pretty thin. I think one engine was headed to the end of the parade route and the other to Home Depot or WalMart to get lights. Have I ever mentioned that conspiracy theorist tendencies run in my family.

Anyway, the parade finally started...or maybe it didn't. The military color guard came around the corner and started the parade and they were followed by...um...uh...nothing. We proceeded to wait about five minutes before the first float showed up. I wish I were exagerating, but I am not. Unfortunately, this was to be the pattern for about the first 7 or 8 floats. I know this for certain because I checked the time and it was 7:23 and we had seen about 5 or 6 floats. Again, not exagerating but we saw the first float headed back to the starting point as we were seeing the 7th entry in the parade. Fortunately, they got that issue worked out and things picked up the pace. With over 50 entries, that would have been one long parade. But as it turned out, it was really good. There were a lot more floats than last year and the effort made on the floats was fantastic.

And what did my kids think of the event? Float #2, Braden, "It's cold, when are we going home?" Float #6, Abby, "I'm bored and I am cold, when are we going home?" Float #16, Logan, "Ahhhh!!!" Translation, I am cold and want to go home. Kate however, enjoyed the whole thing from start until almost finish. We couldn't get her to pose for photos very well because the lights had her transfixed (See Photo). On the way back to the car, Abby said when she grew up she was moving to Panama because it is closer to the equator and isn't so cold. I believe it got down to a whopping 55 degrees. Also on the way back to the car, Braden was mad because he carried a chair for Logan that Logan never sat in. In his own words, "I carried that chair for nothing. FOR NOTHING!!!" But not to worry, Logan demanded to carry that chair back to the car all by himself. It caused us an additional 10 minutes in travel time back to the car, but that was worth it as opposed to the argument that would have ensued. You just don't win arguments with 4 year olds.

Overall, we had a very good time. Abby swears she will never go again, but she isn't in charge so we will do it again next year. However, I hope we remember all the advantages and have dinner at Casa first.