Baby It's Cold Outside

-I really can't stay.
-Baby it's cold outside.
* the lyrics to an old song done many times by the likes of Dean Martin, Rod Stewart, Ella Fitzgerald and Jessica Simpson, to name a few.


Yesterday was the Hamilton Santa Claus Parade and as my Grandpa would always sing at the first sign of cold weather, Baby it's cold outside. It had actually warmed up a bit yetserday and melted all the snow that was still on the ground. The sun was shining, but the wind was definitely bitter. Abby stayed pretty toasty warm in her new winter jacket and boots not to mention the blankets we had brought for her. Poor Michael, however, couldn't get his cast through the sleeve of his coat. Actually he has a 3-in-1 Columbia winter jacket and it was the liner he couldn't get his hand into. The shell was no problem. The shell, on it's own, is no better than a spring jacket. Robin, Tim and the girls met us, which thrilled Abby to no end. The girls all huddled up together with the blankets to keep warm.

Mike and I agreed that the parade was a little disappointing this year. It's been much better in the previous years. Obviously it was because Grandma Linda had to sit this year out due to her knee surgery. I know it will be better next year when she's back behind her drum. There was a real shortage of marching bands this year. Usually at a Santa Claus Parade there's a marching band every other float. This year I think there was maybe half a dozen. Which was too bad, the marching bands are Abby's favourites. There was no shortage of people handing out candy canes or suckers so the kids were all wound up on sugar. We also scored a rubber ducky, a bottle of eye glass cleaner, an apple and way too many flyers.

Of course you know I can't go to a parade without there being some sort of incident with the lawn chairs. I mean we all remember what happened at the Cactus Festival Parade this summer. So we have our lawn chairs at the parade and we only end up setting up two of them. So Linda and I sat for a while and then stood for a while because those lawn chairs really made your but cold. So towards the end of the parade I'm standing in a group with Mike, Robin and Tim with both lawn chairs directly behind me, almost touching the backs of my legs they were so close. Don't ask me why, but for some reason I turn to look behind me and see a woman about 4 or 5 feet down the street sitting in a lawn chair that looks very much like mine. A quick check directly behind me tells that it is in fact my lawn chair. I discreetly try to point out to Mike that a total stranger has appropriated our lawn chair, but Mike doesn't do subtle very well. I wasn't quite sure how exactly to handle it, but finally decided to leave it, but keep an eye on her. She was somewhat on the older end of the scale so she really didn't seem like a flight risk, but if she had I'm pretty sure even the kids could of caught her. So she sat, in my lawn chair for about 5 minutes after I had noticed her and then she and her husband walked off down the street. I have to admit I was more than a little shocked to find her sitting in our lawn chair, but I'm not a horrible person. It was cold out and she was an older person and if she needed to rest for a while that was fine. What floored me the most was the fact that she had actually taken the chair and moved it several feet down the street before she used it. Now that's a little ballsy don't you think?

All in all, despite the cold, it was a nice day. Abby was very excited to see Santa. I hope she's still excited when we go to see him at the mall. Sitting on his knee is much different than waving at him on a float 10 feet up.