I just finished watching the Rose Parade for the upteenth year. Being brought up in Southern California we always watched the Rose Parade and usually had a choice of 4-6 TV stations. Sometimes we even went to see the floats while they were being decorated.
Then, I went to Cal Poly Pomona. The second day of freshman orientation someone walked through the dorm and asked if anyone could type. Well, I could. I was drafted to type something for the Cal Poly Rose Float Committee. I was hooked!!! Big TIME!!! I learned to arc weld and then spent almost every day and evening from Christmas Day to New Year's Eve working on the float. Committee members had white coveralls, like painter's coveralls, and we had a Cal Poly Rose Float Patch that we sewed to the back. I kept those coveralls for years. And, I may even have the patch someplace, in some box. (I need to look for it.)
Then, after the decorating, that year and the next few years, until my husband Walt graduated from Cal Poly and we moved to Connecticut, we would spend New Year's Eve camped out on Colorado Boulevard. That was the best way of getting a front row seat for the parade, as well as parking fairly near our street site.
So, it doesn't seem like New Year's Day until after the Rose Parade and the Rose Bowl game, whether they are held on January 1 or 2.
I wish you all a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.
