the magic

the tiramisu played with her first glow sticks at the parade!
she saw another kid playing with them and wanted some so i had to give in :)  

one of the best things about having children is the opportunity to create magic for them!  the tiramisu is a bit too young to understand and believe in santa but the christmas traditions have already started for her :)  this year, i took her to the city lights parade and tree lighting ceremony.  it was my first time attending the event in the 24 years that i've lived here!

i had absolutely no idea how many people would be there!  honolulu hale is within walking distance from our condo so at least we didn't have to worry about parking. but we did have to fight amongst the throngs of people/strollers/wheelchairs/scooters to get a good view of the festivities.  people must camp out hours prior to guard their spots...and many of them save "seats" for others.  it was craaazzzzy.  luckily, a family in front of us made some space so i could squeeze the stroller up front so the baby could see what was going on...even if it was 20 minutes after we were standing behind them :)

if you missed the parade, here's a short video clip.  the majority of the parade wasn't as lively as i had anticipated it to be (it definitely wasn't the disney electric lights parade) but it was okay.  the baby wasn't overjoyed but the lights and sounds definitely kept her interest.  the dog, on the other hand, was so scared that she jumped out of the stroller and trembled the entire time we were there!  good thing my parents came with me and took turns holding the dog.  sometimes, she's more of a baby than the human baby!