The Crazy Life Of A Mayfield: Float from Hell

December is always a very busy month for everyone but this year it seemed to be worse than ever. I spent the entire 1st week of December in my garage freezing my butt off! This past October my moms club had elections for board positions. Melissa my friend and the kids sitter was easily swayed into doing the parades position and somehow I got talked into helping her. After all how bad could it be since it was only twice a year, Christmas and July 4th. It was only about a month later that Melissa once again got talked into holding yet another board position, Ways and Means. According to the oh so sacred rules of the club you can't hold two board positions at the same time. Wait a minute how will that work out? "Ta Da" I was in charge of parades! SHIT!

I wasn't able to get the trailer until the Saturday before the Parade of Lights which was on December 6th. I am pretty crafty and creative but honestly I didn't know what I was doing or where to even begin. I had to borrow my neighbor and his truck to even get the damn thing to my house. I decided to put the trailer in the garage so I wouldn't have to deal with weather while trying to work on it. We barely fit the trailer in the garage with maybe 3/4 of an inch leeway.

Mom had mentioned using foil to make the lights show up brighter on the float and I ran with it. I decided to cover cardboard with foil and tack it up behind icicle lights. My neighbor, Steve, had a bunch of extra boards that he was about to throw away so he let me have them for the float. He even cut them all to fit and secured them to the float for me! I had gotten a tree from a member and decided to throw that up on the front end of the float. Steve offered to make a large pedestal to attach the tree to and it worked out beautifully. I found some old gum drops that the club had made another year and decided to use the idea. I made a bunch of new gum drops and turned the float into a red and green candy float. I covered everything in red, green, and silver tinsel to make it really shine and sparkle.

I had been working everyday after work until late in the evening when I realized that the only lights I had been given to put on the float didn't all work nor were there enough of them. I started to panic! I spent the Wednesday night before the parade in my attic with a flashlight looking for lights. Of course everyone has a pre-lit tree now and most of our lights have been thrown away or sold. We didn't have our Christmas decorations down yet because there was a 20 ft trailer in our way!!! Sorry still a tad bitter. :)

I really had no idea what I was going to do and the members of the group hadn't been any help with donating items for the float. The boxes of stuff I picked up from the old parade coordinator were pretty much just crap. I was starting to see spots and it wasn't looking hopeful that I was going to find anything. I came to the absolute last tub in the far corner of the attic and pulled it over to me. I opened it and inside... LIGHTS, ICICLE LIGHTS! Woo Hoo! I looked even closer and they were red and green! No way, I could not believe it! It was a Christmas miracle if I have ever witnessed one.

I dragged the tub down from the attic and took them inside. I now needed to see if any of them worked. They all worked and I just could not believe how perfect it was going to work out. I had never seen these particular lights before in my life. We have had icicle lights in the past but they were clear and blue. I figured I must have gotten these from my Mom since I had never seen them before. I ask my Mom later and she had never seen them before either. I swear to you, God blessed me with miracle red and green icicle lights that fateful night!

I was highly disappointed in the amount of help I received from the club member to construct the float. I pretty much did the entire float by myself with the help of Dallas and Steve my neighbor. A job like that should be a group effort and I am not even going to get started about my feelings on that subject.

Regardless the float turned out great! I had told my sob story to the lady in charge of the Parade of Lights and managed to get us a number 8 spot in the lineup. We were the first round of people to go and it was a must for all the cranky, cold kids. Dallas made sure he was not even remotely late to this parade since he almost missed the last one on July 4th. Grammie, Nana, and Grand Daddy stayed at the house with him and they all attended the parade. It was nice having all of them there to share in the experience and to have extra hands. I love that my kids are so blessed with such amazing families!

The kids did really well on the float and I think everyone had fun. Ethan was so exhausted that he pretty much slept through the actual parade. After the parade was over the kids went back home with the grandparents and Dallas and I headed to Debbie's Christmas party. Thank goodness the holidays only come around once a year!