Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays
Whichever you prefer.
My town, Marathon, Florida, USA has an interesting Christmas tradition that I will share with you. It started in 1970s. Every Christmas Eve the fire department folks and families ride all over town in a ladder truck covered with lights. They play loud Christmas music and toss candy canes to the children. I don’t know if they have a specific route, but it seems they cover most streets. You can hear them coming before they are in sight. Everyone comes out to wave to the people on the firetruck as they pass by. I always have.
Our RV park has a Christmas Eve party in the clubhouse and when the firetruck pulls up outside, we all run out to wave to the people riding it. This year Santa climbed down from his chair at the base of the ladder and went into the clubhouse. I think he was posing for pictures with people, but I was outside taking pictures of the truck. It is so big that I had to take three pictures to get it all.
Note that the firetruck is a convertible. Santa’s chair was mounted on the base of the ladder. There was a large lighted “Merry Christmas” sign on the front flashing on and off, but it was off when I got this picture.
Most of the people were riding on both side of the second section of the firetruck. I hope they had seat belts or were somehow tied down.
There was another driver at the back end. The RV park roads are so narrow so it was a good thing that huge truck can bend around corners.
Our neighbor and musician, Dave Scott, entertained us with his guitar. Many people got up to sing with him, including myself. You may remember our 98-year old trumpet player, Micky Belin, who got up and played a few tunes.
It was a beautiful night with a full moon. The scattered clouds were lit up by the moon and it was magical. It was so nice that, after we left the party, we walked to the waterfront. The moon was so bright that the horizon was very clear on the ocean.
Dinata Misovec 