The Collingswood Christmas Light Parade

Our first Christmas in Collingswood and we were here just in time to catch the Annual Christmas Light Parade of Firetrucks.  All the local boroughs festoon their old, new and somewhere in-between fire trucks with lights, holiday decorations, characters, Santa's, Grinch's, sleighs and whatnot.  There was music and lots of candy canes tossed to the kids along the parade route.  We weren't sure that Nibblet would make it through the night, it started at what is typically his bed time and the boy can get ramy after 7 pm.  But we didn't want to miss this annual event since we missed the big Christmas Kick-off Parade Thanksgiving Weekend, the weekend before we moved to town.

The Parade of Lights was well attended with families lined up along Haddon Avenue, out in folding chairs, blankets, holding cups of hot cocoa, coffees and other warming agents of cheer.  This was exactly what we were hoping to find in our All-American Small Town Dream we call home.  People were friendly, smiling, waving and saying hello to all who passed.  The fire trucks were decked out in bright light splendor.  The parade went on for close to an hour, with the trucks moving along the route slowly so all could catch a full lengthy gander of the lights.  There were a few song and dance segments, with some trucks stopping, kids and adults did choreographed dance movements and routines!  Many trucks were vintage, harking back to the 1940's, 50's and 60's!  It was very much like a scene out of my favorite holiday movie, A Christmas Story.  If only there were a local department store to run to visit afterwards, to see the revealed spectacular holiday toy window display.

Nibblet was a good sport, lasting the whole evening with nary a tear or scream at the sight of any of the many Santa-Grinch or Smurf characters.  He even waved and said hello and goodbye to all the people who waved and/or handed him a candy cane.

As more people make quizzical remarks to me about why would I want to live in New Jersey, here's my reminder of why we made this move.  Collingswood is a wonderful place to be and this Parade of Lights illuminates all the reasons why I love it here already.