Ghost of Christmas Present- 2015

Those who have tagged along for this series, you have my thanks. I hope you have enjoyed reading these as much as I have enjoyed writing them. There will be more next December. I did want to finish off with this Christmas. A Christmas on Tybee Island. Regular readers know that Tybee loves a parade. Well Christmas is just another excuse for a parade. The Christmas parade, like every other parade on Tybee begins with a couple of groups. The Beach Chair Brigade and the American Legion Honor Guard.

Tybee is blessed with a very active American Legion post. Every Thursday evening they have a meal available for purchase and open to the public. Each Thursday during the month has a different theme, fried chicken, fried shrimp, fried fish, Italian night, home cooked meal or low country boil. Always good food and well attended by locals and visitors.

The Beach Brigade led by "Rudolph" with a red nose. Several members were walking to the sides passing out candy to the kids.

You always get the same view from my pictures. The view from in front of Benny's Tybee Tavern. Arrive early, drink beer, take pictures, drink more beer, go home.

It was a big day for decorated golf carts. You need one if you are really going to embrace life on Tybee.

What's a parade without a convertible?

Of course all the business folks want you to know they are around and looking for customers. It is, after all, our off season here.

This is one of the few parades on Tybee that has a high school band performing. They did a great job. I'm sure they enjoy performing here in the 70+ degree temps than the bands in Illinois playing in sub-freezing temps.

We are by the ocean so you have to have a shark boat.

Mermaids passing out candy for the kids. Again, we are at the beach.

The local female roller derby team.

The Crab Shack looking for customers.

One of the many vacation rental companies looking for visitors.

And the parade officially goes to the dogs.

The stars of the parade arrive on a fire engine. Why does Santa always show up that way?

I wanted to close with the community Christmas tree. I am always talking about this being a strange community inhabited by old hippies. The tree is another example of their environmental concern. It is not a cut tree. It is a live tree with an intact root ball. When the holiday season is over and the decorations are removed it will be relocated and permanently planted in one of the city parks. You have to love a community that is so concerned about its trees and the environment. Lily and I were on one of our walks the other day and stopped to talk to a couple of city workers tagging trees. They are taking an inventory of every tree in the city right of way on the island. Each tree gets a numbered tag and is identified by species. Diseased trees are marked for removal and replacement. If there is a hurricane and trees are lost FEMA will pay to have them replaced based on the inventory. Lily and I used to solely concentrate on walking as exercise. Now we stop on a regular basis and talk to folks about whatever is going on at the time. So, our advice for the new year, stop and smell the roses. Slow down, relax, enjoy the moment.