INSPIRASUNS

Last night my husband and I participated in the Christmas parade in our happy place, Marco Island. This is our fourth year helping with the Marco Patriots “floats”. We decorate our disaster recovery vehicles, the rescue boat, airboat, 4-wheeler, and such. We’re all decked out in our red Marco Patriot shirts, and volunteers walk alongside the vehicles with bags of candy for the parade watchers. Ya, it’s like most parades, but isn’t there something special about a Christmas Parade?

As we drove along last night pulling the airboat, I noticed the sounds of the parade more than I have in the last four years. I also noticed the parade watchers more intently this year. I’m not sure why, but things seemed clearer.

There were hundreds of people lining the streets. Heck, there were chairs out on the streets holding spots since Friday evening. People were dressed in Christmas outfits, Santa hats, blinking necklaces, and headbands. The kids held buckets and bags to collect the candy that would soon come their way. Families laid out blankets and had little tables set up for food and drink. It was a huge tailgate all along the route I guess you could say.

As our snow machines shot the white puffs across the crowds, kids of all ages screamed, “SNOW, it’s snowing”. I realized later, that some of the little ones have never seen the white stuff. There were smiles, tons of them, and without fail, every time we waved and said, “Merry Christmas”, the crowd smiled big and returned the wave and greeting.

Families were together. Friends gathered in large groups. Everyone was enjoying the Christmas music from floats, (including a church choir on one float), and marching bands. There was laughter and happiness. Simply put, joy filled the air.

I think Jesus was not only in our midst last night, but I think He was smiling. People coming together in happiness to celebrate His birthday 🙂 . I wonder what it will be like in Heaven on that day. Do you think they have a big party on His birthday? I guess that’s for another little blog post. For now, let’s continue to celebrate here on earth, the birth of our Lord Jesus.

Happy Sunday all, may it be filled with the joy of a Christmas parade!

Luke 2:7
And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.