Matthew Burnette, Staff Writer

One of my favorite parts of the Christmas season is the over-abundance of parade-going opportunities.

At this point in the year, I’ve been in attendance at three different Christmas parades in my immediate area: Woodbury, Manchester and McMinnville.

It would have been four, but near bone-chilling temperatures totally squashed any desire I had to stand on the side of the road in Murfreesboro for two hours, though I have enjoyed their parade any chance I’ve gotten to go.

Christmas parades are just fun. All of the colors and the Christmas music. The incredibly and occasionally cleverly designed floats passing by. The marching band marching, the dancers dancing, the flag twirlers twirling flags, the characters charactering (I don’t think that one works.)

Other than a kid waking up on Christmas morning, a parade is the absolute culmination of Christmas cheer and festiveness.

Not to mention, I don’t know that I’ve ever been to a parade where I had to pay admission to be able to watch it. They are completely free for anyone to enjoy. How often do you get to say that anymore?

While a good old-fashioned Christmas parade is an enjoyable and joyful part of the holiday season, it’s also the perfect metaphor for it as well.

There’s this period of anticipation leading to its start that seems to take a lot longer than it actually is. During one of my parade outings this year, I heard a kid next to me loudly lament to his mother “This is taking FOREVER!” when in actuality it had only been around ten minutes.

When you’re looking forward to something, it never seems to get here.

But then, there’s that moment. Just in the distance, you faintly hear a whisper of either a familiar Christmas tune or the wail of the siren on an emergency vehicle. In that moment, you get a flutter of excitement because you know what’s coming.

Side note, in addition to the aforementioned things that I like about a parade, I’ll add that a parade is the only time you can hear a siren and not get either scared or nervous.

Granted, I’m not particularly a fan of loud noises, so I do get slightly nervous, but it’s not the same kind of nervousness that you feel when you’re driving down the road, and you hear a siren and immediately have to wonder what transgression you’ve committed.

 This is more of an anxiety related nervousness that quickly subsides after the emergency vehicles pass by or turn their sirens off.

Anyway, back to the metaphor.

You get this excited inclination and suddenly the waiting doesn’t seem as grueling. It’s a fun waiting because you know that something joyous is about to take place.

Then you wait and wait and wait and wait as the sounds grow louder and louder and louder.

And then suddenly WHAM! (not the Pop band, but that’s not entirely out of the realm of possibility due to their ever-popular Christmas recording.) The parade is here and it’s this colorful amalgamation of everything you think of when you think of the holiday season.

For the next stretch of time, you’re immersed in holiday cheer surrounded by people of varying ages, races and backgrounds all connected by a love of Christmas. Everyone’s smiling and just taking it all in.

Then when the parade comes to a close, you find yourself leaving with a sense of hope and joy that you might not have felt before, and it’s something that you can carry with you past the parade and share with those you come into contact with.

It’s easy to leave a joyful event or season with feelings of sorrow because it’s over, but the much more worthwhile option is to leave with joyfulness because you got to experience it.

So, here’s to Christmas cheer and joy and carrying over those Christmas feelings into the rest of the year.