Ascension Magazine

THE 23RD ANNUAL CHRISTMAS ON THE WATER BOAT PARADE

Every year I like to experience new and exciting things. This Christmas I was invited to the City of Biloxi to participate in the 23rd Annual Christmas on the Water Boat Parade. It was a cold and fridged afternoon but the experience of watching the sun go down over the Gulf of Mexico from the bow of the Conch Out Too was well worth the unsavory conditions. We had tasty chili along with many beverages to keep us warm.

As I looked around it was amazing to me how many ways people could decorate powerboats and sailboats. As the sun went down and darkness set in, the many colors of the lights really took over these floating masterpieces.

The parade was started 24 years ago by Rusty David and friends, all of whom are boat owners or boat captains. There is a committee of 6-7 ladies that actually do all of the day to day work. All of the industrious work is done by volunteers who maintain their fulltime jobs. The enstrance fee has remained at $25 per boat from the beginning, so that anyone can afford to enter. Rusty raises money to cover the expenses, especially the cost of the fireworks show. Historically most of the donations have come from the business community, but since Katrina that is harder to do, so he has turned to asking for individual donations. The community has stepped up and helped keep this annual event alive. More

YOU SAY YOU WANT A RESOLUTION
by Bill Delaune

Great literary figures like Scarlett O’Hara and Orphan Annie have always thought-quite optimistically-that things will get better “tomorrow”.

Even that great American philosopher Lou Holtz once proclaimed, “That’s why the Good Lord put our eyes in front of our head instead of the back-so we can see where we’re going and not where we’ve been.”

So just think how we hopeless romantics feel entering not only a new year in 2010 but a completely new decade.

Sure we’re nine years past the “2001: A Space Odyssey” craze and we still don’t have jet-powered backpacks yet. And yes, we’re only two years away from the end of the Mayan calendar in 2012. But those minor items should not prevent us from making a rousing round of resolutions designed to change our lives for the better in 2010.

Of course we will miss 2009 when the phrase “hiking the Appalachian Trail” became the newest euphemism for “having sex with a hot bimbo” but certainly there are many other legends-in-the-making waiting to be discovered this decade. More

THOUGHTS FROM BULLY: DID SANTA BRING WHAT YOU ASKED FOR?

There was a time when all I wanted for Christmas was my two front teeth. These days I’d settle for keeping all my teeth.

I remember the days when I made a list and checked it twice and got most of the things on it. I guess I shouldn’t complain about the thing I didn’t get. I didn’t really believe that Santa would be handing out Playboy magazines.

Now that I am in my fifties I still get that special feeling that only Christmas morning can bring. However, since I don’t make a list anymore I can’t imagine what is waiting for me in my stocking or under the tree.

I love the mystery and excitement of not knowing what’s in that present with my name on it. My son gave me a present that brought back childhood memories. He gave me a pair of Superman underwear. Wow what a surprise that was. In close retrospect the Superman drawers do tell a tale of my existing life. I am alot like Superman these days. I am able to leap in my bed with a single bound. I am more powerful than slow motion. And more often than not I am faster than a speeding bullet and I don’t mean that in a good way. More