The Grand Finale

(This is actually a three-part Thanksgiving blog, so scroll down if you want to be in order. If you don't care about order, then go ahead and start wherever you want to!)

I love Thanksgiving for many reasons, and I won't bother listing them all here. (If you're in my immediate family, then you are now very thankful that I am not starting my rant about how this wonderful holiday between Halloween and Christmas is too often overlooked and forgotten about...)

Anyway, I was saying....

I love many things about Thanksgiving, and so much of it has to do with family time. But, one of my absolute favorite things that I look forward to every year is our official "grand finale"---the downtown "parade of lights" in my hometown. It is something that we've done for years since childhood, and a tradition that I hope I carry out for years to come. My girls have only missed one year so far, and they, too, are forming their love for this event each year.

Here are a few things I love about it, off the top of my head:

1) I love that it happens no matter what. Come rain or shine, the Teague family will be there. Okay, maybe that's not always true....if it was raining, we would skip, wouldn't we? But, most every year, whoever is in town attends. (The brother-in-laws really love this rule....)

2) I love that we completely make fun of it for its awful entries, the ridiculous length with over 100 awful entries, and how cold and crowded it often is.....but, deep down we love it for these exact reasons. It gives us something to laugh at. Again and again, every year.

3) I love it when it is actually cold for the parade, like it was this year. There have been years where we were wearing t-shirts and still sweating. But, this was a break-out-your-gloves-and-hats-and blankets kind of a year. The BEST!! Even Abby Kate clapped for the coldness....

4) I love seeing downtown FW decked out in holiday spirit, music, and festivity.

5) I love seeing that thousands of other families feel the same way we do about this parade and do whatever they need to do to have a front row view.

....which brings me to the story of this year's Thanksgiving parade.

We really have this parade thing down to a science (kind of). We meet at Grandad and Grankay's house, caravan to the train station, ride the train to downtown (to cut down on the pain of parking with hundreds of others), and set up our camp on our favorite corner to wait for those familiar police lights marking the beginning of two hours of craziness.

This year, we heard there was a new rule. People were not allowed to block the side-streets with their chairs and blankets. So, we picked a new corner, and sat adjacent to the parade, where we could watch across one of these newly cleared streets, and see the parade turn the opposite corner.

Here we are, all set up with our new idea. Notice the set-up we took time to complete. Chairs, blankets, the works. We also got there an hour early to secure our spot. Notice the cold noses from waiting SO LONG...and notice we have a front row view on the curb.

Fast forward past our freezing cold waiting and food & drink run to Starbucks (that turned into a movie concession stand stop because Starbucks line was an hour long), to literally minutes before the parade reached our corner. All of a sudden, mass chaos broke out, and I knew nothing that was happening.

I frantically look up to see five cops on motorcycles simply stand there while a mob of people block the entire street with their lawn chairs and big rear-ends, while my family stands there dumbfounded....on our cool new corner....with our lawn chairs set-up....now behind 600 people with a front row view of our beloved parade.

This is when it gets funny.

I just stand there, frozen, not knowing what to do. My husband and brother-in-law head to the cops to find out exactly why they didn't bother to do their jobs. And, the rest of us just hang out at our precious (now pointless) corner. My dad, however, takes ACTION. Grandadwas NOT going to have his grandkids miss out on the awesomeness of this parade. So, off he goes, pushing his way through these rude people to find the front. He was yelled at, pushed back, and murmured about the whole time. But, that didn't stop him. One particular lady (who I have to admit made me QUITE angry), started yelling at dad, saying "Excuse me! We are the FRONT of this parade! (along with a whole bunch of other stuff that we ignored). Dad responded by letting her know that we had been waiting over an hour to see this parade, and he was not going to stand at the back with his kids because others had broken the rules. (or something along those lines---I wasn't there. Remember, I was still "frozen" next to my lawn chair). The conversation escalated and ended with Dad saying, in response to her ranting about her being "the front of the parade".... "Well,", said Grandad, "this is now the NEW FRONT!" And, there he sat, at the "new front" with his three grandchildren, who sat wide-eyed, completely in awe through the ENTIRE parade. (the "blackness" in front of him is where the parade passed by...literally within feet of their seats. Notice no one else is even next to them, because they are completely in front of the masses. Hilarious.)

It was awesome. I was so proud to be a Teague. And, I felt like sharing our parade history with this woman, who I'm sure had no appreciation for the importance of this event! Okay, okay, she has probably come just as many years, and sat just as long waiting as we did. But, WE didn't break the "no blocking the street" rule!!!

It was a fun parade as always, even though we literally froze our feet off. We caught the train back (that was a minor accomplishment for us over past years), and had DELICIOUS soup night at Grandad and Grankay's house. The perfect ending to an incredibly eventful night. :)

Thanks, Dad, for showing your grandkids they're worth fighting for. And, for making it a fun night for all of us. :) The girls had such a fun time, and I wouldn't have wanted them to watch it any other way!

Here are a few more pictures of the "parade of lights":

The cousins wait in anticipation for the parade to begin. Braden says "What is so fun about this, exactly?" Don't worry, he'll learn. :)

My grandparents, Grandmother & Papa Roy, joined us this year. That blob of blankets in her lap is Abby Kate, asleep in the midst of the craziness....

One of my favorite pictures...Mark and Cailee. Mark's first parade experience with our family was when Cailee was seven years old and she rode his shoulders the whole night. So, we took one this year of the "grown up version" of these two. Ten years later, exactly. So sweet....And, here is the traditional sister picture taken at practically every event. Cassie, notice anything familiar? Yes, that's right, we still hold your place for you on the end just like in many years past. :) We truly missed you...it wasn't the same. Caleb's gonna LOVE it someday!

And, finally, here is Abby Kate's view of the entire night. Somewhere from within sixteen blankets and a fleece hat, I think she caught a glimpse of Santa at the end. :)And, that, my blog friends, is the 'grand finale' of our Thanksgiving holiday.