Everyone loves a parade!

Today was the annual Mummer's Parade in my hometown. It was postponed from yesterday thanks to the tsunami that blew through here. I have many fond memories of marching in the parade in high school, but it's much nicer to be able to sit, relax, and enjoy the whole thing with my family.

There were some very creative floats this year, including a great Sweeney Todd float. And lots of cool costumed characters were walking the route. One guy was dressed up in the most elaborate Death costume I've ever seen (wish I'd taken a picture) - he looked like the Ghost of Christmas Future from the movie Scrooged, but amped up a notch. I got a few photos of his cohorts over on my FB page.

The highlight of the parade for my little cousins is always the candy they throw out to the crowd, and this year, they didn't disappoint. We sit near the end of the parade route, so we tend to get whatever's left over. So when the Frito Lay float hit us, we made out like bandits. They literally dumped boxes of Cheetos and Funyuns over our heads. And the Pepsi Co float handlers handed out cases of soda.

But the best moment of the parade wasn't one of the floats or the free swag. No, for me, the highlight came from my little cousin Julian, shown at the top of the post. He's 6 and he's precocious and devilish - a bad combination, to be sure. We were sitting sandwiched between two other families. As the parade passed us, the people giving out candy would throw candy to the family on our left, then walk past us, then throw candy to the family on our right. I'm sure it was just due to the pacing of the parade - you can't really throw candy to everyone. But that's not how little Julian saw it. After about 3 or 4 groups passed by without giving us any candy, Julian turned to me and said, "They're only giving candy to the white people!"

I lost it. I completely cracked up, and grabbed him and smothered him in a hug. Then I reminded him that he is half-white, but I don't think it really mattered.