Firetruck Santa

Each year the fire department and volunteers decorate a historic fire truck with Christmas lights and go through the town with Santa collecting canned food for the local food bank. It takes them 6 evenings to cover the area. It's a wonderful tradition that's been going on for 25 years. This year was different. We had a procession--a modern truck decorated with lights, followed by a pickup truck with Santa in the bed, and an ambulance bringing up the rear. Volunteers run alongside, pick up the food and hand out candy canes. We could hear it from quite a ways away but it sounded like it was next door so we ran outside and waited and waited and waited. We waited about an hour in the 24 degree temps (it kept sounding closer and then far and then closer and...) Which is better than the year we almost missed Santa and had to chase the fire truck in our van or the year the truck came earlier than expected so Mr. Odd Days had to grab Girly (she was a toddler at this point) out of the tub. We wrapped her in a towel so she could see Santa and get her candy cane. Many memories! The cold wait was worth it because this is the first year my pics have even come close to turning out.