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| Hula Dancer Barbie |
Halifax and Dartmouth used to celebrate Natal Day separately, a week apart. Dartmouth had dories on the sidewalks where a service club served free chowder for breakfast. There was a parade in the morning, a regatta on Lake Banook in the afternoon and fireworks in the evening.
The year I was 6, a hula dancer who lived in my neighbourhood approached my mother to ask if I would be on her float in the parade. She had noticed me because I have skin that tans easily and dark brown, curly hair. She danced in a grass skirt in the center of the float while three other little girls and I sat on the corners and waved our arms about in a way that was meant to suggest hula dancing.
I arrived at the marshaling area early wearing a bathing suit. They added a lei, a grass skirt, flowers for my hair, anklets and wristlets. July in Dartmouth can be warm and sunny or cold and rainy. That year was definitely cold and rainy. Rather than hide our costumes under coats, we wore clear dry cleaner bags. And so began the coldest Natal Day of my life...until a week later, when we did it again for the Halifax celebration.
Barbie never suffers from the cold or heat but, let's face it, she can't pretend to hula dance with her arms.
