For the past 12 years I've had the pleasure of volunteering, along with a few others, to dish out the BBQ to hundred's of parade watchers at the Mims Volunteer Fire Department Christmas parade.
The parade is truly a home grown effort and a labor of love, with the local schools, churches, businesses, volunteer, and civic organizations taking part. You'll see lots of camouflage clothing, four-wheelers, gun racks, and golf carts. There's a blue grass band that entertains the breakfast and lunchtime crowd.
A bazaar set up between the firehouses is venue for clothespin dolls, wooden reindeer, and all types of homespun crafts made from plastic canvas, light bulbs and flowerpots. If its a common household item, you can bet that is been painted, sprinkled with glitter and festooned with ribbons.
The hard work has already been accomplished, Susan's husband, Don, has been up for hours cooking the many pounds of pork, organizing the parade volunteers, and seeing to the behind the scenes preparations. The home made coleslaw has already been dished into littles cups and the beans have also been simmering for several hours. Then we show up, coffee and tea in one hand, Christmas music and a CD player in the other. The red aprons have been washed and pressed. The work we do is fairly simple. Set up a serving line on both sides of a huge butcher block table in the kitchen and fill Styrofoam containers with meat (smoked Boston butt), beans, yummy coleslaw, and two rolls. Do this repetitively for several hours with varying degrees of speed according to demand, then we clean up. I come home reeking of BBQ sauce and collapse in the backyard hammock. I love it...small town Christmas at its best!
