Holiday Season

The girl and I went to enjoy a bit of the holiday season in Portsmouth this afternoon. We went to the matinee of Clara's Dream at The Music Hall. That was a great show. Auntie Groove (Brenda Bufalino) pretty much stole the show, although the entire cast and band were excellent. After that, we went up the square to Popovers, where the deserts were just as incredible as I'd heard they were. The girl had a hot chocolate and a huge slice of the Mocha Torte. I had a coffee and the French Apple Crisp. They are very generous on the portions. We sat and chatted and checked out the preparations for the Holiday Parade going on outside on Congress St.
After fueling up we poked around in a few shops and galleries until it was time for the parade to start. My sister had tipped me off that our dad would be a Grand Marshal in the parade. Of course, he didn't mention this to me when I saw him this morning! Anyway, the parade was about 45 minutes late in getting started and we weren't really dressed for standing in the cold, but we waited it out anyway. Dad was walking the route, so we were able to catch his attention and say hi. He looked happy and surprised to see us there. It looked like he was having a good time. There were lots of marching bands, the New England champion Portsmouth Little League team, girl and boy scouts, church groups, community groups and all the typical holiday parade fare. We decided to leave before Santa's float came to signal the end of the parade since we wanted to avoid the traffic rush out of town. It's many hours later and my toes are still cold, but it was a great afternoon and evening. Sometimes a day out in Portsmouth really does do the trick.