The holiday season is always great for so many reasons…  Decorations, family, great food, gift giving and receiving, and your annual dose of Rankin/Bass characters.

For those of you who are not aware, Rankin and Bass were the directors/producers of the old Christmas classics from our childhoods… “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” “Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer,” “The Year Without A Santa Claus.” 

If you grew up anytime after the fifties and sixties, these were a staple of any holiday viewing each year.

After much thought I would have to rank my top 3 Rankin/Bass characters as the following:

1.  Snow Miser – “The Year Without A Santa Claus”    This guy had style.  He dances he sings and he sends an arctic freeze at the drop of a hat.  He is completely etched in my brain when I think of happy holiday memories.

2.  Yukon Cornelius – “Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer”    Yukon is a tough guy and a great friend.  He helps Rudolf in his journey to find himself and get back to help Santa save Christmas.  Why does he always lick his hammer and try to taste gold? 

3.  The Abominable Snowman – “Rudolf”    This snowman is terrible at first but shows his kind heart at the end of the show.  He doesn’t say much, but finds good employment at the North Pole to put the tree topper on the Christmas tree.

In our current nano-second lives where video games look better than real life and computer animation is king… It is nice to know that simple claymation like these movies still holds a place in our hearts.  Every year they wisk me back to my childhood where all I wanted for Christmas was the latest Star Wars action figure and the Atari version of Frogger.  Those were the days….

We went to the annual Neiman Marcus Adolphus Christmas parade this morning.

As always, it was a great parade with many baloons, floats, bands, characters, and happy kids.

My favorite each year is to see the superhero characters.  This year there was the Incredible Hulk, Spiderman, and Captain America.  Captain America came over to us on the sideline and shook hands with me.  He not only had a very firm grip, he was incredibly polite saying “yessir” and “yes ma’am” just as you would think Cap would do.  He has always been one of may favorite heroes.

 As every year, the Hardin Simmons University band was there.  They are awesome! They are so entertaining.  They are outfitted in western gear.  Chaps, boots, spurs, and really great music with style and attitude.  That is what this band is all about.

The balloons this year were decent.  The Grinch, Hello Kitty, Paddington Bear, and Curious George were the main attractions here.  It appeared that the wind might have been making this hard for the balloon handlers.

 Like every year, the parade finished with the big man himself… Santa Claus.  I love to see the childrens faces when he enters the parade.  This is what the holiday season is all about… the happiness of a child.

We will now look forward to next year’s parade.  It is one of our favorite days each year.