Lights on the Lake:  A festive, thoroughly luminated way to kick off the winter season.

Those of you who journeyed to witnessed the festivities may have spotted a collection of larger than average woodland creatures dressed in a Christmas-like fashion, waving and enduring photographs upon photographs with small children.

About three weeks after the ordeal, I have summoned the strength to confess something to my fellow Liverpool students:  It was I in one of those mascots above, wearing Santa hats to look more festive.  I will eventually reveal which costume I wore, though I will neither confirm nor deny that it starts with P and rhymes with anda.

Initially, I volunteered to sell glow sticks at Lights on the Lake.  I was then told I was going to be in costume.  No biggie right? I’ll just be dressed like an elf or something, I thought.  But no, that was not the case.

A friend of mine suited up about 10 minutes after arriving. The costume was quite warm, a bit cumbersome but not too problematic.  It was the head of the thing that caused all the problems!

It was like wearing a visor with an oversized astronaut helmet made of paper-mâché and negativity.  Things did improve later in the night when a fellow endangered woodland creature told me that the costume is far more comfortable if I wear a baseball cap underneath.

So I waddled in my huge shoe covers to the costume trailer/break room, removed the disturbing head of the costume, and placed an old Yankees hat on my head. Things were looking up after that.

Night one was dedicated to small children, and night two was spent dog-walking.  The first night went off with out a hitch, though it did take me about an hour to realize that I didn’t have to smile in pictures because no one could see my face.

Night two, on the other hand, was ‘interesting’.

Dogs do not cuddle with animals larger than the average grizzly bear on its hind legs. 23 snarls, 17 nearly rabid growls and a plethora of barks were shot my way, though I didn’t mind all that much as the costume is quite similar to the attack suits used to train police dogs, so I knew I was safe.  One dog lunged for me, but its attack foiled by a kind gentleman at the Verizon booth.

Overall, I’d consider it a rewarding experience.  My community service hours are all said and done, the experience will look nice on college apps (perhaps excluding the costume experience), and delicious cookies were handed out.  I received a grand total of 237 hugs, took around 150 pictures and gave countless high fives, as well as only having one problem child try to flee from my mask.