A Christmas Festival – Parkville, MO

We went to a Christmas festival in Parkville last night. The experience exceeded anything I could really imagine. It was like everything was designed from a dream I had and hard to tell if this was the dream or the real thing.

As we descended the hill into the little town, we could see a movie playing: Charlie Brown’s Christmas. It was playing on a projector screen right at the T intersection that marks the center of the Parkville downtown.

We parked and walked in the stream of the crowd, myself being amazed at how many people had come out; this really was a Christmas tradition around here.

Christmas lights decorated all the houses, houses which seemed staggered on the hillsides of this 4,000 population town, staggered in a way so as to make everything look like a perfect Christmas card if you took a picture from nearly any place in the area. I tried to absorb the imagery.

Our first destination, because it has become a tradition of ours, was to check out Bentley’s Music, which was perfectly up the hill from where all the festivities were at. Jude and I were the only ones that went in; we played a 60′s Custom remake Squier Telecaster through a newer Bassman reissue. That was fun for a moment.

Soon, we were beckoned outside; the sky lanterns were being lit and let go! This was the part we were most excited about! Jude and I rushed outside; our spot outside Bently’s door was perfectly situated to see the crowd, the lightings, and the lanterns as they drifted out of town. A mystical sight for sure, those lanterns. They just drift and drift and the light of a dozen or more of them in the sky at once, from far away, is what really makes their beauty most magnificent to see – like large stars blossoming into the new. I wondered how far those lanterns went.

We left Bently’s and went into tbe crowd, looking for the kiddie train that Jude would ride three times though the night – most definately Jude’s favorite part. As e found the train, we heard a new band strike up “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.” This was a youth “school of rock” band. They were good!

The night ended with a beautiful firework display. The boys were in awe; both making gentle “ohh,” and “ahh,” sounds with the bursts of light and color.

…the whole thing made me want to move to Parkville! …at the least, it’s made me want to read Dickens.