SANTA IS HERE!

Santa came to town today. Since I was a little girl, Santa has come to town on the 2nd Saturday in November. All the children know Christmas is not far away, and from this Saturday, they can visit Santa in his Magic Cave (or any of the major stores) and ask for their Christmas wish list. Thousands of families line the streets in the city (which are closed to traffic) and watch the pageant floats and marching bands till the last float that brings Santa to his Magic Cave. My parents took me to the pageant- only a few times - it is always shown on television live, and when my boys were little I took them too. I was even in the pageant once. I was working for the department store that originally organised the pageant, and through a simple process of selection, I was chosen to be on the chimney sweep float. Unfortunately, I was too big for the costume overalls, so I ended up being a clown. There are a lot of clowns in the pageant, and you know the type of costume a clown wears............................

Now the following pictures are not from the pageant, but this is the whole procession heading back down the one of the main roads from the city to the storage facility in the suburbs, not far from where I live.  I had met a friend for coffee and just as we were leaving the cafe, all the floats came rolling down the street - with police escort no less!  It was like being at the pageant!  You can't help but wave at the drivers.  The floats usually have lots of characters all dancing and waving, but the floats without people are spectactular to see - and huge!  It was quite exciting, and I took as many photos as I could with my phone...............

There goes the stardust castle where Santa lives before Christmas.  He loads up his sleigh with his toys and the reindeer come all the way from the North Pole.  If you look really hard you will see the reindeer in front.............

Santa is at the Magic Cave waiting ...................