Sunday, December 15, 2024

The 62nd Annual Camarillo Christmas Parade


Saturday, December 14, 2024

Some days one just has to sit back and savor the joys of rural small town living.

Today was one of those days

This cultural staple of the Camarillo
social calendar is so wonderfully quaint

This year's parade, which could never be confused with the one in Pasadena on New Year's Day, was even more special as Mary, Jacob and Michael would all be in the parade!
 
A house in the Holiday Spirit as we
walked a few blocks to find an open
spot on the parade route's sidewalk
to set up our chairs

We found a spot with Vanessa, her sister Elizabeth and their Mom and Dad near the end of the parade's two mile route.

Meanwhile, at the parade's staging area . . .

Mary, representing The Dance Group,
hung out with the Grinch

Jacob was aboard this huge trailer
filled with Camarillo Stingers players
and cheerleaders

May I say that it was a BEAUTIFUL day for the Camarillo Christmas Parade.

Back at our end of the parade route . . .

Santa Claus was IN THE HOUSE!

But that is definitely not Mrs. Claus with him!

You heard it here first, inquiring minds want to know.

The Camarillo H.S. Band led the way

Camarillo H.S. Cheerleaders

Some Honored Veterans

Yachts for Tots were cool!

Great side car

That Boy Scout on the left worries me

How much will our flag be put
through in the next four years?

Baton Twirlers are always a
BIG hit in any parade

Brownies Troop

Finally,
HERE COME THE STINGERS!

LOTS OF STINGERS!

There's our Hero,
DE, old #99, Jacob Contreras

Willy Wonka and his Golden Ticket

This guy was REALLY tall!

The Pride of the City,
the famed Camarillo Family horses

Dapper

The Ventura County Ford Model A Club
entered several cars in the parade

I liked this one's clean look

Gingerbread Cookies!

I realized that I was getting quite hungry.

Shouldn't Frosty be melting after
a two mile stroll?

I looked for Michael and Susan D'Antuono
but could not find them

As I said, we are a rural community

Sweet Ride!

Mater's,  from the film "Cars," cousin

A ventriloquist was different

HERE COMES THE DANCE GROUP!

Mary is in there somewhere

There she is!

Couldn't be any happier getting
to dance for two miles

Michael, ever the good Dad, walked
behind The Dance Group with water
to aid any possible struggling dancers
 
There's that Grinch again

A right side drive, well preserved
English vehicle as the parade was
winding down

The Rio Mesa H.S. Band director
was a vision of sartorial splendor

Parade After-Glow

The fun and, this year, really special, parade was over and we had just enough time to pick up a couple of pizzas before reuniting with Jacob and Michael for the BIG GAME at Noon.

The 125th Renewal of this Great Rivalry
Army (11-1) vs. Navy (9-3)
at Northwest Stadium
in Landover, Maryland

Jacob and Michael were both wearing pro-Army gear as they are both U.S. Army Civil War reenactors.

Silently, I was rooting for underdog Navy.

During the game as Army was getting
outplayed by Navy, Jacob broke out
the Civil War toy soldiers setting up
a battle scene to bolster his spirits

No Contest

Navy was in control from start to finish and justly deserved the upset win.

The Navy Midshipmen (10-3) from the AAC will play one more game against the Oklahoma Sooners (6-6) from the SEC in the Armed Forces Bowl on Friday, December 27th in Fort Worth, Texas.

As for the AAC Champion Army Black Knights (12-2), they will play in Shreveport, Louisiana's Independence Bowl on Saturday, December 28th. Now, as to their opponent.

Originally, it was supposed to be the Sun Belt Conference Champion Marshall Thundering Herd (10-3). But soon after winning their conference championship game, the Thundering Herds head coach resigned to take the same job at Southern Mississippi. That move automatically opened the Transfer Portal for 30 days for the entire Marshall roster.

The first day that the Portal opened, a whopping TWENTY-FIVE Marshall players entered it.

Marshall's Athletic Department assessed the situation and concluded that they could not field a representative team given the situation and opted out of the Independence Bowl.

Now what?

Enter the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (5-7), fifth place in Conference USA action this season and based in nearby Ruston, Louisiana will fill the void.

Though not possessing the minimum six wins needed for bowl eligibility, it was a case of any port in a storm.

Football news from the net . . .

Where is the college game going?

This is getting out of hand.

An academy player leaving is
not unusual, getting a player
transferring into the an academy is

Such an interesting comparison

Cam Rising was at Newbury Park H.S. when I last coached high school football. Nice kid, great player.

Our grandson, Jacob, bonded with him as a ball boy back in those days.

Covid and season ending injuries are part of his career story as well as leading the Utah Utes to two PAC-12 Championships and two Rose Bowl appearances.

Will he again try to come off of another injury to play for Utah again in 2025? Stay tuned.

The European League of Football's
Division set-up for Year Five

Closer to home on the net . . .

THE place to go for fun in SoCal
before Disneyland's 1955 opening

Laurie says that POP (Pacific Ocean Park) in Santa Monica was better than Nu-Pike.

I love her to death, but, like all of us, she does come with flaws.

This POP business would be one of them in my humble opinion.

1,ooo% TRUE!

It was another good day to be alive.

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