Don't get me wrong, I'm not afraid of change. For a long time, Sedalia has had the Christmas Parade on the first weekend in December. I have a lot of good childhood memories about it.  Usually what would happen is my Mom would bundle me up in extra socks and layers, we'd go to Papa Jake's and get donut holes and hot chocolate, and then go watch the parade.  Meanwhile, my Dad and my sister would go and pick out the Christmas tree, and start setting it back up.  Then, we'd all decorate it when we got home.

Good times, sure.  And I've been to the parade in recent years with the girls.   We didn't have hot chocolate exclusively, though.  For some reason we all really wanted chicken broth one year in a Thermos, and that was fine.

This year, the parade is going to be held at night.  I get that, it seems like a neat idea. I  mean, the point of it is so that people can do fun things with their floats with lights and different effects.  And that's kind of reminiscent of another Christmasy thing we used to do that I don't even know if people do anymore - driving around to look at the lights on people's houses.  You know you can't do that during the day, it's not the same.  You have to see them at night.  So maybe the parade this year ties into that.  It's not like everybody didn't like when the lights were up in Liberty Park.

So part of me thinks, is the night parade a break with tradition, or is it a continuation of a different, kind of dead tradition?  Or is it both? On the one hand, the night lights sound like a pretty cool idea.  And, it's always good to shake things up every now and then. If you're just doing the same thing over and over again because "that's the way we've always done it", that's not a really solid reason, is it? On the other hand, we don't know how much colder it will be to have a night time parade.  It's always pretty hit or miss when it comes to the weather, you never know. I know it won't be Super Late, but will the littler kids be able to go to the parade in the evening? Will there be a change in the mood of the parade?

I gotta say, I'm conflicted. What a first world problem to be conflicted about, right? It almost seems silly to debate about it.  I can see both sides of a pro or con night parade.  But you know what, I think it's worth giving it a try.  Who knows, we might really like it.  Maybe it'll be even better than the old way of doing things.  Sure, you won't be able to bring hot Papa Jake's donut holes with you, but sacrifices can be made.  I say, let's give it a chance.  And if it doesn't work out, it's not like we can't go back to the old parade.  Heck, if it works, maybe we can alternate every year.  This year night, next year morning, and so on.

What do you think about the change to the Sedalia Christmas Parade? Do you like the idea of a night parade, or do you want it to stay in the morning?

Paradingly yours,
Behka

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