Last weekend I had the pleasure, the delight, the excitement of seeing the parade along Snowflake Lane in Bellevue, WA.
The street is beautifully decorated.
There is a fifteen-minute parade, which included Santa that night, and was followed by a tree lighting.
Adding to the festive atmosphere is live Christmas music on the street corners, and…
it magically starts to snow.
Beautiful.
Now, I certainly don’t want to downplay the effort that went into this. Hundreds of people worked to make this happen. The floats, costumes, and decorations cost a lot of bucks… not to mention a snow machine.
But here’s my point:
Hundreds of people came out to see this, and were delighted. (Well, it wasn’t raining, which helps a lot. And the temperature was reasonable.) Yes, the two-hour+ Macy’s parade is fabulous. But a 15-minute parade is lovely, charming, and for most kids (and a lot of adults,) enough.
When you are creating your own holiday extravaganzas, remember this. More isn’t always better; sometimes it just wears out the host and the guests. People are very happy with a reasonable amount. When tv commercials, HGTV shows, and home & decorating magazines are urging you to go over-the-top, take a deep breath, and say “enough.”