The first Saturday night in December, with its clear and cold pre-winter feel, found me dropping prepped barbecue-spiced chicken thighs into the sous vide, caramelizing onions, crushing cooked bacon into bits, and digging deep into the back of the fridge for blue cheese crumbles. Still at the ready was homemade barbecue sauce, lightly spread onto unrolled puff pastry, and with shredded cheddar cheese down low and mozzarella for the top, it was a satisfying supper of barbecue chicken bacon onion blue cheese puff pastry pizza.
The afternoon was split between quiet time upstairs, with precious moments like this:
...and all the excitement and anticipation as the street filled with staging for the yearly Christmas parade.
This annual event on the first Saturday evening in December brings so much great festive activity. I certainly don't mind being so close even if it means this block is closed off.
When I first moved down here, they staged the mayor in a convertible in front of the house. During other years, it's been dance teams, drum corps, horses, hay wagons, and fancy vehicles with other various local notables.
This year it was a line of Jeep enthusiasts, a cub scout pack, and a few local businesses or industries.
And round the corner on Fourth Street I spied two trucks and a trailer float from QRC Refrigeration and HVAC. I’m willing to acknowledge that QRC's Christmas Parade presence was impressive, and having an abominable snowman as a mascot saves me the trouble of coming up with a better adjective to describe their service.
The parade ends at Corpening Plaza and the great Christmas tree installed there. On Monday evening, as I did my evening stroll, I snagged this photo of it with our grey and foggy city looming all around it.
