Everyone Loves a Parade

It's too loud!

Christian watching the girls hug.

Look what I got!

As a child, parades were one of my absolute favorite things.  In the small town where I grew up, parades were a really big deal.  They seemed so magical and special to me then, and the feeling has stayed with me my whole life. 

Today was the annual Fiestas de Taos parade here in Taos.  For almost the last ten years we have been watching the parade from the front porch of our shop.  It used to be that it was all there was to do because the road is closed and the parade goes right past our shop.  But as the years have passed and babies have showed up it has turned into a fun tradition.  Today we had a lot of friends, family and tons of kids lined up along the front of the shop to watch.

I don’t know how much of the parade I actually saw today because I was basically staring at the kids the whole time.  As soon as the sound of sirens drifted down the road the kids all straightened up in their little chairs and craned their necks to see the police cars that signaled the start of the parade.  My friend’s two year old son shouted “It coming!” 

In the last couple of years Tes hasn’t been that into the parade, I think she was more excited about the party.  Last year was Christian’s first parade and I think I mostly kept him inside.  This year they were both really into it.  Christian sat in a little camp chair and watched with a very serious look the whole time, only getting really animated when the fire trucks drove past, and Tessie ran around with her her girlfriends, collecting candy and waving to the Fiesta Princesses. 

It was so fun to visit with friends and watch our children enthralled with the festivity of a parade.  Watching Tessie’s eyes sparkling with joy and the laughter just bubbling out of her I couldn’t help but feel like I was in the presence of true beauty.