December 06th, 2021

Tim and I don't attend a lot of parties or large gatherings these days.   But we made an exception this past Saturday to spend some time with good friends who are, very soon, leaving for the next 4 months.   They hosted a party on the evening of our local Boat Parade and since they live in a condo that is right on the water, we had a perfect close up view.  

It was awesome. All of it.  The party was pot luck, which in my opinion is the very best sort of party.  Everybody brings something.  There is always a wonderful variety of foods and loads of gastronomic surprises.   I cannot even recount to you the many different and wonderful dishes that showed up.  I brought dessert of course.  The hosts provided their own yummy dishes,  plates and flatware, napkins and drinks,  a lovely venue and did a lot of introductions. 

 It was a wonderful collection of guests too.  Tim and I met people new to us and reacquainted ourselves with people we already know but just haven't seen in awhile while also getting to spend precious time with people we  like and see fairly regularly.

Conversation and people flowed easily from one group to another and we moved around the rooms on and off of the multiple balconies and the time flew by.  Suddenly it was 6 o'clock, full dark and time to head out to watch the parade.  We trooped downstairs and made our way to comfortable viewing points.  Some folks were really smart and brought chairs.  (we were not those folks)

We started out here.  It was a great spot with comfy built in seating:

But Tim wanted to be closer so we kept on going until we were at the very edge of the water. We were so close that we could talk to the people on the boats as they went by!  It was pretty awesome.

The lighting was creative, each boat was rigged out differently and the line of various watercraft was seemingly endless.  Many of them also had music (occasionally live music!) which was fun as we sang along. (some of us danced a little bit too).   We waved at Santa's and Frosty's and Snoopy's galore.  Some boats had a loads of different coloured lights and effects and other's were simplicity itself. But all of them were fun and festive and perfect. 

Afterwards we all headed back upstairs to their condo and we agreed that it was the Best Boat Parade we'd ever seen.  As Tim and I walked back home we discussed all of the parties we've ever thrown or attended and voted on which ones were our favourites.  This one was definitely high on the list!

I don't know how you spent your weekend, but if you weren't at this boat parade party, you missed a really good time.