Saturday evening was spent in Burr Ridge for the 2nd Annual Jingle Mingle, an event filled with train rides, live reindeer, face painting, meeting the Mayor and Santa, and parade leading up to the tree lighting in downtown. We were so fortunate to have some wonderful 60+ degree weather! There were over 1,000 people in attendance this year! I had the opportunity to help with the tree lighting ceremony after the parade, and then visit with those in attendance taking photos and signing autograph cards. It was kind of fun sitting right down on the sidewalk with the children as they acted like they were talking to a "princess". That was a fun 15 minutes of fame there! Walking back to the car afterward, I had a family of 5 all take turns trying on the crown and taking pictures. As much as it is fun to wear the crown...because in truth, it is...it's even more fun to watch others try it on with such enthusiasm. Who knew something as simple as putting on a tiara makes so many feel like a million bucks?! :) Making others feel good is my favorite part of all of this!
This event was especially fun for me since Eric and Elena were also a part of the parade with Eric driving the car - so generously provided by Castle Buick-Pontiac-GMC - and Elena riding along. She didn't want to sit up high with mommy, wanting instead to be next to daddy, waving and hollering "Merry Christmas!". Such a hoot! She also loved waiting for the parade because that meant she got to meet the firemen and see the truck, as well as help herself to the passenger side of the military jeep in the parade. She actually wanted to ride with them instead of us!!! ;) She was enamoured by Bebe the dog, who was with her grandparents, Marcie and Joe Aceto, who also made the trip out, after already coming out for the fashion show earlier in the day to be there for (and a part of!) the parade.
Special thanks to Lisa Scheiner of the parade committee for her hard work in making it a successful year #2 for the parade (from 500 to 1,000 in attendance in one year is huge! Congrats!). Wishing you many, many more! To Dehn, a good friend of the Aceto Family, and the person responsible for making Mrs. Illinois a part of the Burr Ridge Parade, to Joe and Marcie Aceto for coming out and spending the evening in Burr Ridge with us, to my brother-in-law, John, in partnership with Castle Buick-Pontiac-GMC, for providing our parade car, and for my husband, Eric, giving so much of his day for all of the events by being chauffeur and chaperon making it all work perfectly(although, I think getting to drive "the corvette with only 6 miles on it" made it a pretty sweet deal for him ;)!!! ).
Car provided by: http://www.castleguy.com/
Many Thanks!
Absolutely, how much fun!
ReplyDeleteWould you like to be part of the Courageous Beauties Interview series over at my blog? I'm doing research for a book on confidence and courage hence the interviews with 30 beauty queens :-)
I'm Mrs. Montana International 2009 and would love to interview you as well. You can contact me at angie[dot]breidenbach[at]gmail.com but I'm getting tight on space and time. So if you are interested, please act asap so we have time to turn the interview around this week.
Thank you,
Angie