Parade Results

Good Morning,

I have good news to report to you. All of your well wishes and prayers were well recieved. I'm glad to to tell you, we all had a good time and arrived home safe and sound. Oh yea, along with the many blessings we recieved from all of the people, we made new friends and won, not one, but two awards! One beautiful award was for the "Best of Show." This one included a beautiful plaque to hang on the wall and a one hundred dollar gift certificate, to be used at West Marine. The second award, a plaque similar to the first, was for being the "Most Creative."

As happy and proud as I am to be honored with the awards, I am most pleased with the great jobs Patrick, his friend Aaron and Aaron's dad, Ted, did. Patrick put forth an excellent effort playing carols with his trumpet. Evidenced by the applause he recieved from the generous audience. Aaron and Ted also did a great job, throwing out the goodies to the crowd and interacting. These three deserve all the credit for winning the awards.

I didn't do so well, personally. I frequently sounded out between carols with my genuine home-made bull horn and managed to scrape the concrete wall once, with the canoe. Other than a couple of busted Christmas lights no serious damage was done, unless you count my bruised ego.

While waiting along the seawall for the start of the parade I met a new friend, from Memphis, TN. His name is William. It was a great pleasure visiting with him and I hope to hear from him again. One thing William told me that I would like to share with you, is that he has two sons currently serving our country, in Iraq. Please join me by remembering to pray for all of our service members and their safe return.

Also at the seawall, A young mother with two little girls, after discovering I have seven sons, graciously allowed me to interact and visit with her daughters. She gladdened an old man's heart with her generosity, may God bless her.

One more little note of consequence happening at the end of the parade occurred, when a mysterious-dark barge suddenly appeared out of the darkness, seemingly out of no where. We were only yards away, before I saw it. On deck, stood a dark human figure waving his arms at us. The boys, by now trained to act accordingly, responded. They smiled, shouted Merry Christmas and waved back to him. Seconds later, a glowing fire ball ignited on the deck of the barge and shot skyward, leaving a sparkling trail in its wake. The fireball quickly gained altitude and burst into a beautiful fireworks display, right above our very heads. Needless to say, it had caught us all by complete surprise. With hindsight, we all figured it out. The waving figure standing on the deck, had been trying to warn us to stay away from the barge. Another great moment, included in a special night where
wonderful new memories, blessings and friends were discovered.

Until next time, may your new memmories be as special as ours are, thanks to you and Others.

Rodney