Bring On The Band!

'Tis the season for Christmas Parades.

Parade after parade after parade. Beauty queen of this school and that school and this game and that game. Mustang Clubs. Corvette Clubs. Old Car Clubs. Even a Jeep Club and a Haphazard-Thrown-Together-Motorcycle Club. Horses. Tractors. Random trucks with hand-painted signs announcing this, that, or other.

Marching Bands. Cheerleaders. Tap Dancers. The Jolly Big Guy On The Fire Truck At The End.

And a random, long-bearded old guy in a flannel shirt carrying the Confederate Flag.

There are days where I absolutely love where I live.

Even The Church Has A Queen

I crossed another thing off my list of Things I've Never Done Before this past Sunday. I went to a Christmas parade.

Big news, right? But it was a big thing for me, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. From the marching bands to the Confederate soldiers to Santa Claus standing tall on a firetruck, the hour long event was worth standing outside in the southern cold.

There was one thing that caught my attention.Well, quite a few things actually. And they all revolved around the same idea: beauty queens.

Now, I'm all for the girly-girl stuff. I'm the one that dressed my baby girl in pink every chance I got (which, by the way, she hates now). Oh well. It was fun while it lasted.

Back to the beauty queens, though. A parade wouldn't be complete without the recent homecoming queen and her court riding in convertibles sponsored by car dealerships. This parade had a homecoming queen, but she was by no means alone.

Miss Freshman
Miss Sophomore
Miss Junior
Miss Senior
Miss High School Queen of All

Miss Teeny Tiny Princess (of Something)
Miss Tiny Princess (of Something)
Miss Teen Princess (of Something)

Little Miss (State) Queen
Miss Teen (State) Queen
Miss (State) Queen

I'm thinking I'm missing one or two, and I am by no means exaggerating. This next one, though, took the cake.

Miss Providence Baptist Church Queen

I am so not kidding here. A grown woman, on a float, complete with a crown, a sash, and a Bible. She was surrounded by her ladies-in-waiting and doing the whole proper wave thing. A queen of a church? That was a first for me.

I thought about my daughter, the one that I use to dress in pink. I wondered what she was thinking as she watched all these girls (and middle-aged woman) riding by with their crowns glittering in the sunlight. Doesn't every girl want to be a beauty queen? Or at the very least, most girls?

I know I always did. I even had the Miss America Barbie doll. She had a crown, white gown, red cape-thing with white fur around the edges, and a scepter to fit in her hand. Oh, how I wanted to be her! I just wasn't cut out for the beauty queen circuit and to my knowledge, only walked the runway two times.

I lost that bid for the county fair... both of them. Just wasn't meant to be, I suppose. I said all of that to re-emphasize this: I'm not opposed to anybody wearing a crown. Trust me, I wish it could have been me.

But a Miss Providence Baptist Church Queen? That one has still got me stumped.