wamego’s grand elf 2007

Apparently, each year around Christmas time, the library hosts a little drawing to find a child (K-5) to be the Grand Elf for the Christmas Lighting Parade. In Wamego, they do up the City Park with a pretty nice display of Christmas lights all over the park. On the night of the lighting ceremony, they do a big parade (well, I suppose big is a relative term). After the parade is over, everyone walks over to the park, which is pitch black (though the local telecommunications company always hands out little flashlights for people to use on their way there). The Grand Elf is then supposed to flip a (fake) switch which turns on all the Christmas lights around the park. It’s a big deal. And this year, Chloe’s name got drawn.She had to be at the high school’s back parking lot early, so we had to pack the kids a dinner that they could eat on the way, as Mom and Dad struggled to get them up the hill in the wagon.

While waiting for the parade to assemble (and for someone who knew what we were supposed to do with Chloe), Michelle found what she wanted for Christmas:

No, not the car…the maid service, of course.

The sleigh finally arrived, pulled by eight six tiny reindeer tractors. Supposedly, she was going to ride with Santa in this sleigh, along with a bunch of presents, but Santa decided he wanted to ride in the pony-drawn sleigh at the end of the parade, instead of at the beginning. And, judging by the size of the sleigh, it’s a good thing he did, too.

When one of the organizers found us, she told us that, if it were her kid in the sleigh, she’d want to ride with, or at least walk along. So Michelle decided to ride with Chloe.

But, once Hyrum saw that the sleigh was being pulled by a bunch of tractors, boy, did that bottom lip come out fast and far. The organizer saw it and immediately called her superior to find out if he could ride too. Fortunately, it was allowed.

Once they got settled, I set off to find a spot to watch the parade from. I found some friends of ours from church across the street (or rather, they found me looking lost and forlorn and pulling an empty wagon), so I hung out with them for most of the parade.

Anyone want to bundle me up and push me around for a while?

Wasn’t March of the Penguins on this weekend?

Then the parade started. I had to run to the other side of the street to make sure I got Hyrum in the picture, but then Chloe didn’t look at me. And that’s okay…she had work to do, waving to all her adoring fans and all. Michelle told me that she saw a lot of her friends from school and they were all super excited to see her.

After the parade, Chloe was supposed to go to a spot near the bridge where it “was obvious” (we were told) where she would be flipping the switch. Apparently, somewhere along the lines of command, the word “obvious” was not connected to “put the switch out and make it” because we looked everywhere (as best as we could in the complete darkness) and there was no switch near the bridge. I found the real switch, but no fake one. I asked the band that was there (the teenage boy I spoke to had no idea what I was talking about). I asked the police officers (they looked hard, but no luck). The parade organizers didn’t even know where it was.

Finally, they decided that, since no one could find the switch, they’d just have Chloe count down from 10 to 1. She wasn’t all that excited about doing that. But, when the man called her over to the police car’s PA mic, she was a trooper and gave the countdown anyways, straight from 10 to 1, not skipping a beat. She was even all smiles afterwards when the lights came on right on cue.

After the lights came on, the band played some Christmas songs and everyone went over to the Wamego Museum for cider and cookies. We couldn’t find the lady that let Chloe wear her Santa hat, so another lady said we could just keep it for a souvenir. Though Mom and Dad were a bit skeptical, Chloe was already jumping for joy.