Not Much Christmas Spirit...

These poor girls...they didn't yet know what they were in for...

Saturday was both the Christmas parade and the high school Christmas formal. The girls voted on whether or not they wanted to ride in the parade and they voted "yes." The weather was horrible Saturday and the girls, I'm sure, didn't get much sleep the night before because they had a sleepover. We were supposed to ride in the fire rescue truck, which translates to a pick up truck. I was going to drive ours because I was guaranteed an inside spot but once we were offered a truck, I felt bad backing out. We were in the middle of decorating the truck when we were told that since two girls didn't make it, there would be enough room for the girls to ride on a fire truck. They were thrilled. I asked a firefighter, "So, do you have an extra special spot for the coach to ride? Like inside?" I got my way. The fire truck had two swivel bucket seats in back so the varsity coach and I were both able to ride inside.
The girls climbed up onto the truck and at that point were just cold, but cheerful.

That was the end of the Christmas spirit. We drove to the old high school to park for what seemed like days to wait for the parade to start. Those poor girls weren't wearing much underneath their warm ups and sweatshirts. Most didn't have boots or mittens. They sat, not moving, in the air, for a 1/2 hour. That wasn't even the worst part. The worst part is that Santa got to move in front of us. Okay, anyone from the White Lake area knows that Santa signals the end of the parade! These girls were an afterthought, even after all the crappy weather they endured. I felt so bad for them. There were definitely troopers standing outside, though. For all the people walking away after Santa's sleigh passed through town, there were some true Christmas parade junkies out there wishing the girls a merry Christmas. The parade ended in Montague, up by Todd's, and the driver was supposed to stop at Montague Foods to drop off a few girls who had rides for hair appointments. Instead, he got an emergency call for a fire and both the jayvee and the varsity cheerleaders had to unload at Todd's! Oh my! Lucky for all of us The Dillivan's were in the parade and had waited for Marie. (their daughter) They offered to give all of us a ride back to City Hall. The girls were numb and one was even crying. {as if this couldn't get any worse...} One of the girls got a text {sooo out of my league} that the dance had been cancelled. No fooling. As a mom, I was happy, but since I'm not a mom of any children attending a high school formal and am, instead, a cheerleading coach, I was distraught for all of them. It was mass chaos in Pekadill's trailer. Everyone was texting and calling friends and salons...oh boy! I had one girl heading to Whitehall for an appointment and another two heading to North Muskegon. I felt bad for any girl who had already gotten their hear done. I had one girl I was taking to the snow hill and another who couldn't find her ride. My cell had died the night before {I got a new one yesterday} and I didn't have any cell numbers to get ahold of my girls to stop them from getting their hair done. I drove both girls to the first salon, stopped my first girl, drove back to City Hall to drop off my second girl, then headed to Northland to use the phone to call the other girls heading to Muskegon. Drama seems to follow me everywhere!!!

In the end, everything worked out.

I forgot to mention that something else took me by surprise in that Pekadills trailer...in an earlier post, I mentioned that one of the cheerleaders made a comment to me about me maybe not remembering high school...well, while all the girls were doing their panic texting and whatnot, one of the girls said she'd call her mom since she worked at one of the salons in town. Her last name is Bush and it hit me. I asked her what her mom's first name is. She replied, "Chandra." Hello, Chandra Nyhof!! I told her that I went to school with her mom! I didn't even want to admit that because Ashley is either a junior or a senior!!!!!! It is happening...I am getting old. It'll happen to you all, too...just wait.