My Advent Calendar – 2 December – Santa Parade

Our spring has been a bit weird weather wise, with the temperatures up and down and more rain than you can poke a stick at. But our first two days of summer have been warm and summer like. At least until the rain started again this afternoon. But it was dry for the Santa Parade and the activities for the kids afterwards.

Before I start on the main story though, take a look at this bad boy.

Two and a half kilos of prime New Zealand lamb, hand delivered to us by that other bad boy, from Feilding, Mr @kiwiscanfly. When he came down to Wellington to pick up his new waterslides, he came that bit further to pay us a visit. Sitting round our kitchen table, we managed to get all his secrets out of him. I hope he realises he’ll have to keep us stocked up with lamb and steak to keep us quiet now. Bwa ha ha ha ha ha….

Had some for dinner - nom nom. Thanks J.T.

So back to the Santa Parade…

This is not the sort of Santa Parade most people will be accustomed too, with whiz bang floats and hundreds of people, packed ten deep. This is the Kilbirnie Santa Parade, just for our wee suburb.

So most of the paradees were on foot, the kids could get right up close to the action and see everything, and I (mostly) had nobody in front of me for taking photos.

The parade started with a police car in front, and then a highland band with bagpipes. I don’t know what it is about bagpipes, but they just get to me, and I was almost blubbing* before they even got to us. (And no, @meesterboom, not because they were awful, I like them.)
*crying like a little girl, or maybe a menopausal old lady…)

They were closely followed by the ladies of the Capital Marching club. I don’t think Marching is a very modern sport as they were all about 70. But they still had a spring in their step.

A lot of the paradees were kids from local groups – two dance schools, girl guides and scouts, a band from the high school, sports teams and more.

There were some performers from the circus school.

And a group from the Chinese Sports & Cultural Centre.

And for change of perspective, here’s a photo @frot took from our bedroom window, of the same group as they came out of the street I was in and turned the corner. You can see I didn’t have to walk far to get there.

And for another new perspective, here’s another photo he took, not zoomed in. It looks a little further in this shot, but it only takes two minutes to get there. Three if I have to wait for traffic before I can get across the road.

There was, of course, the obligatory fire engine from the local station, and later on, another vehicle with local volunteers.

And no Kilbirnie parade would be complete without the Snoopy and Woodstock ensemble, by a local architect.

Our MP (member of Parliament) was part of the parade with a mascot and a group of kids giving out lollies (candy) to the watching kids. And the three city councillors from our area also put in an appearance.

Afterwards, there were activities for the kids, including face painting, a bouncy castle (though nothing compared to @kiwiscanfly’s excellent selection), Santa’s grotto, and a group of fencers giving some littlies a chance to try it out. A swing band from Rongotai College (high school) kept the adults entertained.

All in all, a nice morning that everybody seemed to enjoy. There’s something to be said for small and intimate.

What will my festivity for tomorrow be?

Thanks for reading and listening

Photos by me and @frot.

Follow me for more health, nutrition, food, lifestyle and recipe posts. For an archive of 2016 & 2017 posts, by category, see my last post of 2017.

Contact me in SteemitChat to ask about one on one nutritional coaching or EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) sessions by Skype. (Then put a comment on my most recent post, so I know to find you.) Steem, other altcoins or Paypal accepted.

If you’re from New Zealand (Aotearoa) and are looking for other kiwis, use #teamnz as one of your tags // check out other posts with #kiwi or #teamnz tags // follow @teamnz // or join the South Pacific channel on Discord. There is an old list of kiwis on this post.