Santa Claus Parade

Every Parade starts off with a Marching Band  playing some Christmas carols.

Put on your Santa hat and join me here in Toronto's 2012 Santa Claus Parade. The parade has been a Toronto tradition since 1903. It started small with real Reindeer pulling Santa in his carriage from the Union Station, travelling to Eaton's Department Store to start off the Christmas Shopping Season in the City. Then as the years go by, the reindeer have been replaced by extravagant and huge floats and has grown with a longer route to accommodate the larger audience. The weather in Toronto last weekend was very mild in the double digits with the sun out on a lovely Sunday. I remember attending the parade when I was younger with my parents and brothers in snowing conditions or freezing rain and temperatures. Now, it is really getting warmer. The parade was attended by almost 1 million people all anticipating the arrival of Santa Claus to the City. The Christmas Season has officially started here in Toronto. After the Santa Claus Parade, radio stations started playing Christmas carols and  the shopping season officially started. I wish I can share all of my pictures from the parade here. I am presenting here the best from the Parade! Enjoy!

All of the Volunteers came out in full costumes and make-up. They all had fun!

One of the Corporate Sponsors of the Parade was Mercedes Benz. I told my friends that I had equal fun watching all of the MB cars parading along together with the Floats. 

Luckily, I was standing beside a 5 yr old Boy who was excitedly naming all of the parade participants. Here are the Power Rangers!!!  

Then in front of me was an older lady who was equally excited during the parade. She kept waving to the participants and the floats that her hand kept showing up on my camera lens. Of course, I don't want to break her excitement that day. So I just adjusted my photo taking techniques by either, taking the picture quickly before she waved or took the photo below or above her waving hand. The parade was enjoyed by everybody from all ages. 

There were many Marching Bands from Universities, High Schools and other Community Groups from around the City that participated in the Parade. They all showed up in their different costumes and played different Christmas carols.

Of course, Princess Barbie had to make her appearance.

Three Little Piggies.

Ronald Mcdonald and his special float.

Lego!!!

Sony PlayStation Game Little Big Planet. Thanks to the 5 year old boy beside me who was my source of information on this one...

Turtles.. a traditional Canadian chocolate. They are caramel filled chocolates with nuts shaped as Turtles. They are delicious and crunchy.

Tim Horton's is Canada's answer to Starbuck's and Dunkin Donuts. They make the best coffee and donuts in the City.

I believe these are from the UK. If my British readers can help me identify which Regiments they belong, I will truly appreciate it. My guess is that they are from the Queen's Royal Guards. It was great of them to come along.

A Marching Band from a High School in New York, USA.

The Big Building behind in this picture is the ROM (Royal Ontario Museum). The old building with the newer Michael Chin's Crystal Building. This is one of their Dinosaur float honouring their Ultimate Dinosaurs Exhibit in the Museum.

We had no idea how the British Pop Group One Direction ended up in one of the floats featuring Polar Bears?  This shows how One Direction is super popular anywhere in the World.

Sears Christmas Catalogue Float.

Canadian Moose.

The Penguins and the Skunks.

The Drummer Boys above and more marching bands this time dressed like Santa.

All dressed in the Christmas Spirit.

12 Days of Christmas Float.

Metro is one of the Big Chains of Grocery Stores in the City. Here are some volunteers dressed as Chickens, Strawberries, Grapes and Oranges.

Everybody knows Toys R Us!


Toys For The North is a toy charity drive by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (R.C.M.P) for the children living in the most remote, northern communities in the Canadian North: Nunavut, Yukon and the Northwest Territories.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (R.C.M.P) parading here before Santa Claus arrived.
This Black Horse by the R.C.M.P is known as the Burmese which was Queen Elizabeth's favourite horse. It was gifted to The Queen in 1969. She rode the Burmese horse since 1969 during the Trooping of Colour Parade until 1986 when the horse was retired. After that, The Queen requested not to have any horse trained for her for the Parade and decided to attend the parade in a horse drawn carriage since. (Source: The Official Website of the British Monarchy)

View of the ROM and the CN Tower along University Avenue. The whole Avenue was lined with large Balloons in Red and Green.

Finally, here is Santa Claus and the Reindeer.

 Everybody stood up in excitement when Santa Claus arrived!



The winner of the Creativity At Work book by Heather Clawson is Connie of the Blog Snow In The Air.
Congratulations Connie!   Too bad there was no snow here in Toronto during the Santa Claus Parade.

I hope this has put all of you in the Christmas Spirit!
Have a wonderful weekend everyone!