Happy Mardi Gras!

May you have as much joy as MQ had in catching the elusive chocolate Moon Pie.

Throw me something, Daddy!

The Big Guy rode in his first Mardi Gras parade tonight. It's a New Orleans rite of passage, I think.

Do you have any idea how many beads he had to have to throw? Me neither, but I'm going to guestimate 5 million, and most of those we reused from other parades/friends. I enlisted the help of visiting British relatives to sort and detangle appx. 3 million of them (the rest I did by myself on my living room floor last week watching DVRed movies)

Here is a mere piddling of the beads we sorted. And some stuffed animals.


After helping to load all the stuff onto the float this morning (in the SNOW, I kid you not. Brr.... Snow and Mardi Gras are not supposed to be uttered in the same sentence. Ever) we got a family picture on the float.

It was about this time that I realized that the reason that The May Queen was so sullen even though she was dying to get on the float earlier is because she has a newly developed fear of heights. This will make Disney interesting next week.


By parade time, the fear was gone and The May Queen was pretty excited. Good thing we knew where to find Daddy, because with the mask, we had friends who knew where he was and still couldn't find him!
It was cold, but awfully fun.

Beggers

There's something odd about Mardi Gras parades. (Okay, there's a lot odd about them, but...) I find them quite fun, and as Jen pointed out in the comments about the parade we attended last week, we have really embraced this whole thing. True, in a lot of respects. But sometimes it's hard to stand there and realize that we're on the side of the road begging for a bunch of plastic beads and cheap stuffed animals that will end up in a closet and, at a later date, will be given away to visiting friends and family. I'll even pay to get rid of the stuff, mailing it to friends and family across the world.

(It must be noted that the May Queen is happily sleeping with several new stuffed animals she caught today, and will play with them for quite some time to come. She does also play with the beads...)

We try to be frugal. We try to teach the May Queen to not ask for and expect gifts. We are careful about excess at Christmas and other gift giving occasions. But put us on a parade route and we encourage her to aim for all the loot she can get.

You get swept up in the moment. In the culture. In the expectation.

There's more to it, of course. The parties beforehand are a great time to get together with friends and eat wonderful food. There's a whole social aspect to it that is becoming more and more my favorite part of the parades.

Sometimes I just stand back and wonder at it all. It defies simple explanation.

But I know that there is joy in my daughter's eyes. There are smiles on our faces. I know that there is community and friendship and, of course, food.

And I know that in my guest room closet there is a box of beads that weighs more than I.

------
This Monday's mission, should you choose to accept it, is to write a post in the style of a sign (street sign, business sign, airport sign... you decide...)

Let's see...

The May Queen is up past her bedtime eating Moon pies and drowning in stuffed animals....We're encouraging her to beg....
My husband has a pair of panties on his head...

I'm sending people into hysterics with my (really awful) imitation of Beyonce's Single Ladies dance (sorry, no photo)...


MUST BE MARDI GRAS!


(note: It is not technically MARDI GRAS, that would fat Tuesday, which happens 2/24. But down here Mardi Gras is a season, and starting last night the parades and parties are in full swing)

____________________________

Throw me something ladies! Like an entry in the upcoming Monday Mission. This week's mission, should you choose to accept it, is to write a post in the style of a brief biography (like a bio in a theatrical program or the back of a novel...) Does not have to be a biography of YOU.

It's Carnival!

and so it begins...