Sunday, November 18, 2007

Santa's coming to Town

As a mattr of fact,.he arrived in Montreal yesterday ,Remember the Santa Claus parade,when we were kids,.well seems they have the parade in Montreal again,..............that's kind of neat,.( they stopped it for awhile didn't they?)..............

Season's first sighting of P챔re No챘l brings out huge crowd

Santa blows kisses and ho-ho-hos his way through downtown on chilly, snowless day

ANNE SUTHERLAND, The Gazette

Published: 15 hours ago

Santa Claus ruled the downtown streets of Montreal yesterday as the annual holiday parade shut Ste. Catherine St. for several hours.

There were marching bands, clowns, Shriners in funny little cars, floats depicting elves making Christmas lists, a Christmas fairy and rapturous children clamouring for views of all of the above.

The crowd brought camp chairs, all manner of strollers, blankets to sit on and wagons to pull the overwrought children after the big event.

Organizers estimate more than 300,000 people witnessed yesterday's spectacle.

Entrepreneurs selling felt-covered and bell-bedecked reindeer antler headbands were doing a brisk business: $3 apiece, two for $5.

An a capella quartet in 1940s clothing serenaded the crowd behind the barricades on Drummond St. and some teenagers played street hockey on the deserted thoroughfare before the first marching band arrived.

Spectator Ashley Charette, who will be 2 on Dec. 19, was cozy warm in a fluffy leopard-print snowsuit as she sat on the sidewalk with her brother Kyle and her mother, Cynthia.

"She's having fun, although I don't know how much she understands," Charette said as stiff-legged toy soldiers marched by.

Ioan Bojdanas, 31/2, was a perpetual motion machine, waving his bare hands, both of them, at every float and cartoon character that passed.

Dancing snowmen with brooms, perambulating Christmas trees and a penguin lip-synching the Bing Crosby version of Let it Snow wowed the crowd, which in some places was six deep from the curb. Whoever did the facial make-up on the various elves, soldiers and fairies is to be commended; it was worthy of the Cirque du Soleil.

Elizabeth Garcia, age 3, and her mother, Stephanie, arrived 30 minutes before the parade began at 11 a.m. and got choice seats at the edge of the sidewalk near Bishop St.

"She understands the getting part (of Christmas) but I don't know if she gets the giving part," Garcia said of her daughter's comprehension of what was going on.

Alessandro Nielsen, 10, was at his second Santa Claus parade with his father, Bentley. They arrived on the commuter train from Kirkland to spend the day downtown, taking in the parade and just walking around.

"I used to write to Santa when I was younger," Alessandro said. "Now I just like the parade." With a mixture of sun and cloud and a temperature of zero degrees Celsius, the only snow at this parade was the artificial stuff the F챗te des Neiges characters were pitching into the crowd.

Crowd-pleasing stilt-walkers preceded the youngsters dressed up in pajamas, who urged the the spectators to chant ''P챔re No챘l, P챔re No챘l'' as if they weren't excited enough already.

And there he was, bringing up the rear, Santa himself, ringing a hand-bell, blowing kisses and ho-ho-ho-ing his way down Ste. Catherine from Fort St. to St. Urbain St.

An army of street-cleaning machines and their crew followed Santa at a respectful distance, vacuuming up the discarded cups, streamers and wrappers.

Ten minutes after Santa passed by, there was no evidence at all of a parade on the now-pristine street.

Except in the hearts of the youngsters who were there.

asutherland@ thegazette.canwest.com On the Web:

See the Santa Claus parade slideshow, only at montrealgazette.com

............................................Christmas not far off now............YIKES !!!

                                                                                                                  HF&RV

26 comments:

wendythepool MSN said...

Bah Humbug, don't get me wrong, I love the holidays, but, they start with xmas in Aug. down here in some stores.Before July 4th has ended they have Halloween, and Thanksgiving deco out, and within a couple of wks. of that its time for xmas. The holiday season is  becoming longer, and longer. I guess so Big Corp. can make the big bucks, and screw everybody else, aye.? Wendy

les__f MSN said...

I think in Canada,.they sort of start the teaser Xmas ads,arounf Nov 1st.but generally all the BigBox stores are a full season ahead almost,.so looking on the glass half full side,.you can start shopping for your Patio springtime stuff in a few weeks.......hahahahahah   At least Montreal has the parade again,and Nov 17th wasn't too bad ,(Aug ...yup I agree ,way too early),.....................but in any case Santa's coming......................................................                      HF&RV

les__f MSN said...

Here you go Wendy,............................................(he's real you know)     .............Thes are shots from the Montreal Santa Clause parade in the 40's & the date it was held on Nov 25th,...........so they are definetly moving those dates up,.........................................here's a few more: ...Hey,.he's double parked,.......and seems to have left the deer running (flagrant violations in todays modern world,..........bet he went up that ladder ,righ in front here..................   .........................Yup there he is,..................Have Fun & Remember Verdun

wendythepool MSN said...

Hey Les, thanks for those great pictures. I used to love going to that parade. Wendy

theomer MSN said...

Super photos, Les!   Thanks so much,   Jack

earlcooper1 MSN said...

Great Pictures, Les!                                I'll be forwarding these to my folks.   Earl.

les__f MSN said...

I've posted these several times in the past (each Christmas for 5 years.....hahaha) So for the newer members ,.Here's something I'm sure you'll get a laugh out of seeing again,......Remember going upstairs (5th floor ,was it?) at Eaton's & riding this little train,and at the end of the ride we kids would get a Christmas Gift from Toyland,......................   ..........Now I had another one (in these same shops) but with all kinds of kids around fro a CN Christmas Party,..................I'm sure ,at least one of Our members has a copy of it,.....( I can't find mine off hand) ,.so if it's out there,feel free to post it up :          That really was ,a cool train,.built to scale of a real one ,........can you imagine the weight of this train ,loaded with kids ,and the Toyland set ,all concentrated in one area of Eatons Store,........that was a well built building for sure:                                                             Have Fun & Remember Verdun

the lad MSN said...

Les   Thanks for that picture brother...now that brings it all back..the parade,and riding the train..and getting a gift at the end..don't lose this picture...a CLASSIC.Just like the movies on t.v. I think I might have worked in this shop at one time..wish I had the xmas party pictures..I never took any and don't recall ever seeing any.Might have some in the archives..   Lad

biking2006 MSN said...

l was a toddler when I seen this amazing toy. My mother worked at Eatons during the war. She had to take me on the elevator because I was deathly afraid of the escalator. Actually I was fearful of the elevator as well but not as much as that strange moving, disappearing and appearing staircase. Would I disappear with the stairs? As soon as I discovered the rewards on the upper floors however, I wasn't so reluctant to take a chance. Great photo Les.
Bill

les__f MSN said...

Yikes !!  Exactly one month from today,.the living rooms around the world will be in a mess,with wrapping paper,..and Turkey's & Hams will be being cooked ...........and family dinners will be had,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,  Not long now.                                                                                 HF&RV

touchy826 MSN said...

I  walked in the parade pulling floats for the Years  1943 -44 & 45, if I remember, got up in the middle of the night, take street car to Eaton's wharehouse,  they gave out a breakfest,   after walking, went to office, I think we were paid $5.00,  this was a higher rate due to pulling               Ron Larman

les__f MSN said...

Hi Ron $5.00 bucks sounds like a lot considering the years,(at least ,it would have bought more).....  Anyone in your family take any pictures of you while you were working in the parade,.You had those other neat old Verdun Photo's , so maybe you've got some more neat stuff,hanging around....   Neat story,.seeing the parade from the inside ,I'm sure you scanned the crowd lining the streets,for familiar faces.??                                                                                                                  HF&RV

les__f MSN said...

Twenty-Five Days to go.................................today is officially the day We start to decorate the house ,.but the tree won't be for a few weeks,......but it'll be up the ladder & check the Christmas Lights,.(probably tomorow,as we've had a very light dusting of the white stuff,today,.pretty much gone now,....( I hate these long drawn out winters)........ Higher elevations did get more though...........                         Anyone else started the decorating yet? Also this year,our son & his wife will be here for Christmas ,so we'll have almost all the kids here,this year,and So A 'Real Tree' will be in order,(most likely Our last time,.as we've officially started looking at those 'articial ones' ........Yikes !!   but I did get a laugh out of this picture my son sent me this morning,...... looks like spruce beer bottles?..........................However I suspect it's the plain old beer bottles,...looks kind of neat though,...     .......found on the net somewhere,but pretty funny,.especially the collecting the treee parts,& 'preparing' them..........................hahahahahah                                                         Have Fun & Remember Verdun

les__f MSN said...

18 days to go>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Xmas     I know some of you have mentioned in the past that you liked Paul Reid reading Christmas stuff,.............& again this year, CJAD as usual has a number of shows planned,  ( I don't really Remember this guy,but many seem to) so maybe this info, will be on interest to you: Paul Reid's Christmas Special Many of you have already asked about the CJAD tradition of the legendary Paul Reid Christmas Special. To help get you in the spirit of the holidays, CJAD will be broadcasting the special every Friday, before Christmas, throughout the month of December. Few radio personalities have touched their listeners as much as the late Paul Reid. With his unique style and unmistakable voice, Paul forged an unbreakable bond with his audience. Thankfully, the Reid family has allowed CJAD to continue the tradition of The Paul Reid Christmas Special. It is also worth noting that earlier this month Paul Reid was posthumously inducted into the Canadian Association of Broadcaster's Hall of Fame. Below is the complete Paul Reid Christmas Special broadcast schedule: Friday December 7th at 7:00PM Friday December 14th at 7:00PM Friday December 21st at 7:00PM Monday December 24th, Christmas Eve at 6:00PM Tuesday December 25th, Christmas Day at 9:00AM Tuesday December 25th, Christmas Day at 10:00PM  Starts today at 7pm Montreal time,you can hear it on CJAD http://www.cjad.com/node/630097         you can click on "Listen Live"                                                                havefunandrememberVerdun  

judy MSN said...

Eatons Santa Claus, Diane Pullen, Vera Brown & Judy Brown

judy MSN said...

Sorry screwed up, did not get attached

Attachment: Christmas 56.jpg

les__f MSN said...

Hi Judy ,that is a neat old keepsake,.the Eaton's Santa,with a few oldfriends, Great Stuff,...............Thanks for sharing that,.......  Now I have to ask you,would happen to have a picture of the sign at the old Elmhurst Dairy,on Upper Lachine Rd, with the two 3d Laughing Cows Heads.......hahaha I've been trying to find one of those for years,so I just thought I'd ask,            We cannot seem to find one of those,but I figure if we ask enough times & enough people someone may produce it from an old shoebox full of old photos............................ but any old photo's (like this one you have) are good to see ,as well.....................    So that's the 'real' Santa only Eatons could have the Real Santa................Merry Christmas & HF&RV

touchy826 MSN said...

Les Picture of me pulling float in parade, never had one taken. Have been in Florida since end of Oct.  and plan on going back to Quebec in April,  all my old pictures are in Quebec. Weather to-day and rest of week will be  78 F. sunny.  our town house is situated along the coast and we get a nice breeze. perfect for surf fishing, plan on getting a Pompano for supper . Must go and get my fishing poles into the water.    Ron         Les    

carver3570 MSN said...

Les would you settle for one horse. Ron

carver3570 MSN said...

Hope this works

Attachment: montreal elmhurst dairy.jpg

les__f MSN said...

Hi Carver,.Yup we've seen that one too,.but those cows are really hard to find,.we've had pictures from all around the old Dairy,.but none of the sign.... One day we'll find them...apparently the dairy that operates out of there now,.took the sign down a few years back,with the story being ,they were refurbishing the sign,.but it has somehow just disappeared.............hahahahaha  missing cows from a dairy,.How ironic,I wonder if they would put a picture of them on a milk carton,.....hahahahaha Remember when they used to use milk cartons for missing people,.......  but thanks for the input....................................   HF&RV

carver3570 MSN said...

Les. I've beel looking quite a bit. Every time i think i'm on to something i end up with another horse and wagon. VC is agreat place.  Ron.

judy MSN said...

Hi Les, Sorry I do not have a picture of the Elmhurst dairy cow....used to go there though for an ice cream cone. Judy

winnie3ave MSN said...

Good one, Bill.

les__f MSN said...

This is the last weekend before Christmas,..................got stuff?          coming quickly now,..................................................................hf&rv

les__f MSN said...

Hope he was good to all of you & your family's...................                                        Merry Christmas......to everyone.......                                                                                 have fun & remember Verdun                                      and of course Appreciate all your family & friends           Best Regards from Canada's Westcoast ( Les & Teresa,Victoria BC)