So, the parade was this weekend. You know i live for parades...they allow me to go public with my

kid-ness. Well, it was going to be great...lamb dog was going to walk with me, the Spirit of Christmas.

My boys would be adorable elf attendants handing out red and white striped confections and waving from white horses. My friend and her girls would be the snow angels and we'd all light up everyone's believe-o-meters to full charge.

Well, we were LATE and the stress was palpable.

the blue pear's window

Let's back up, here in happier times, my star candy cane distributor elf, Morgan all suited up and ready to go

While waiting for our ride, the lamb dog ran away! And it became quite apparent that she wasn't enjoying the stress level one bit. Scratch that. ps im not pregnant although my festive layers suggest otherwise.

The Live Nativity we so looked forward to only had a handful of adorable miniature donkeys. Sicilian, just like the one i've always wanted. The one i'd name Luigi. Mary, Joesph, the baby...all MIA. But maybe i missed that too.

I missed everything, because of that guy in the middle, you know, the happy elf ?

The hurry up stress combined with the siren of the fire truck made him stage shy and while crying about not wanted to do it, got a huge raging bloody nose all over his elf outfit...even more tragic? his elf shoe unravelled! He simply couldn't go on. So, the parade left us in the mud way at the other end of town where nobody cared i had a glorious headpiece with stars that changed colors.

By the time we caught up with the others, we found our "angels" in the nativity.

But don't be fooled...here they are attacking an elf.

Maybe next year!