O-H!

As always, this weekend was an absolute whirlwind. Fortunately for me, it was a whirlwind of happiness, loved ones, Christmas, and Ohio State football.

Saturday afternoon, Mommles, Wheat, and I attended the largest horse-drawn carriage parade in the U.S. Where you ask? Oh, just my precious little hometown. Every year, Lebanon plays host to the most charming Christmas parade you could ever imagine. I haven't been in several years, so I was extra excited to take Wheat for his first time. I wish we could have gone to the candlelit night parade, but we avoided the massive crowds by going in the afternoon.

We bought some hot chocolate from an antique shop downtown, staked out a spot on Town Hall, and watched over 100 carriages parade past pulled by gorgeous horses, including Clydesdales and my personal favorite, miniature horses! Among the riders in the parade, we spotted Santa and Mrs. Claus, our hometown mayor, and The Grinch. Something about it just fills me with such happiness. My mom, too, apparently. Check out her face of child-like glee at the end of that video.

After the parade, we ate a quick lunch at Bob Evan's before heading back to Indy for the Big Ten Championship Game. Wheat was offered free tickets from work and despite his SEC elitism favoritism, he agreed to take me. Before the game, we checked out the massive tailgate on Georgia Street, in hopes of finding competitive eater Joey Chestnut. Chestnut won the St. Elmo Shrimp Cocktail-Eating Championship earlier in the day, devouring 10.4 pounds of shrimp in eight minutes. Unfortunately, he was nowhere to be found, so we made our way to Lucas Oil Stadium.

Stranger photobombed my picture in front of B1G sign with an O. I didn't mind.

Our seats were in the Wisconsin end zone, so we received Badger rally towels (yuck!) for the game. Ohio State completely blew out Wisconsin, 59-0. Third-string quarterback Cardale Jones, who was also named the game's MVP, threw for 257 yards and three touchdowns and defensive lineman Joey Bosa had a four-yard fumble return for a touchdown. It was nothing short of glorious.

The atmosphere in downtown Indianapolis felt like Columbus on game day. The crowd, which was clad in varying shades of red, white, and gray, was overwhelmingly in favor of the Buckeyes and it was refreshing to finally be the one responding, "I-O!" rather than initiating the "O-H!" In complete honesty, the game was such a rout that it actually got boring. Poor Wisconsin.

Another highlight of the game was seeing the best damn band in the land. I admitted to Wheat that I almost love the Ohio State marching band as much as I love the football team. Seeing the script Ohio and the dotting of the I is always so exciting for me, no matter how many times I've seen it. The halftime show was a compilation of songs from West Side Story and throughout the performance, the band formed beating hearts, a jet and a shark, and a dancing man. Unbelievable.



On the way back to the car, we took a quick stroll along Monument Circle, admiring the gorgeous lights and decorations, massive Nutcrackers, and a mailbox specifically made for letters to Santa.

Yes, folks. Five years ago, I never thought I'd say this, but Indianapolis is a pretty cool place to live. Come visit?