MOODY AIR FORCE BASE — Garanimals were the uniform of the day Friday as hundreds of children plus their families celebrated the launch of the holiday season with a parade, entertainment and the lighting of the base Christmas tree.

Mitchell Boulevard was packed shoulder-to-shouider as decorated vehicles and floats trundled past in the early evening, manned by units from Moody, local sponsors, veterans’ groups and Boy Scouts, with many of the participants throwing candy to the children. Every handful of sweets tossed from the vehicles triggered a mad scramble of toddlers in between floats, often followed by mommies hauling the kids back to the curb.

Two-year-old Olivia Blunt was one of the youngsters on hand for the parade. She brought her father, E5 Johnnie Blunt, with her.

The Blunts have been at Moody for two years. Asked what she wants for Christmas, Olivia said “Elmo,” the popular “Sesame Street” character.

While waiting for the parade to start, many kids had fun hurling snowballs in a makeshift snow pit, with ground ice making a suitable substitute for genuine snow. Nearby were arts and crafts booths, as well as displays for businesses sponsoring the festivities. Men were stoking fire pits for whipping up campfire S’mores later in the evening.

Air Force wife Alicia Hegre has seen real snow at Christmas and plenty of it. Sitting on the parade curb with her two children, Samuel, 6, and Abigail, 7, she said her family had previously lived at Misawa Air Force Base — the “snowiest base” — at the northern tip of Japan when her husband was stationed there.

The Hegres relocated to Lowndes County a little more than a year ago when her husband was reassigned to Moody.

“In Japan, they celebrated things a bit differently,” she said, “and they weren’t as big into the holidays as here, although at (Misawa AFB) they worked to make Christmas enjoyable.”

Her daughter said she was looking forward to seeing Santa Claus. 

Sure enough, the final float in the parade brought the North Pole’s commanding officer and Mrs. Claus to the tree-lighting ceremony, which took place just after sunset. 

Afterward, the Claus family received guests in a lengthy receiving line to find out what was on the children’s Christmas wish lists, while a remote-controlled drone with red and green holiday lights hovered overhead.

Terry Richards is senior reporter at The Valdosta Daily Times.