I haven't been in much of a mood to post in the past few days. As I mentioned before, I feel so way behind on things and on top of that I just feel icky at the moment. For those of you that live in the north, you know what I mean--every day lately has been dim, depressing and gray as we transition from the beautiful vibrancy of fall to the dreary drudge of winter.

Every day Reagan wakes up, looks outside, turns to me and says "Mommy, I miss the blue sky." How pathetic is that? I know we're very blessed to live in an area that gets to enjoy four seasons instead of the ONE season I grew up with--SUMMER! But some days I just want that blue sky back too.

Today has been another equally dreary day. But luckily it's not raining and tonight is the big Christmas parade for our town (here's to hoping Josh holds himself back from lecturing everyone within ear shot about how Thanksgiving is the ultimate holiday and how it's grossly overlooked.)

The very first Christmas parade Reagan ever went to, she received a beautiful white Teddy Bear (although he's quite bedraggled looking now) that she promptly named Baby. I'm assuming Baby will make the trip with us tonight to enjoy the festive, if small, Christmas parade that we look forward to all year long. It's nothing like the Christmas parades of my youth. I remember those being crowded and noisy and not very Christmas-y and thinking how even though I knew tons of people and grew up in that town, I could still be surrounded by strangers.

Not true in our current hometown. In a city of barely 11,000, everyone knows everyone and if you don't know someone, then you surely know someone who knows that person and are thereby friends-in-law. I love that feeling...that feeling of community. Of knowing that when my daughter reaches a certain age, that will be HER Brownie troop, of being able to say "oh there goes Mr. so and so who owns the hardware store on the corner of 9th", or even "hey look, isn't that the fireman we bought our house from?"

So tonight, even though all around us the cloud cover will swirl and the dampness will seep into our bones until we're nearly frozen with cold, our hearts will be warm, watching our little community parade it's festive spirit for all it's worth, with homemade banners, floats and children's smiles that no sun and bright sky can compete with.

Merry Beginning of the Season, Everyone!