Ho, Ho, Ho and happy holidays to you all, from the Hollywood 360. We had an amazing time at the 89th Annual Hollywood Christmas Parade this year, celebrating 2021, despite the obvious. The parade benefits the Toys for Tots organization organized by the Marines, making sure as many children as possible have a toy for Christmas.
This year’s festivities are being hosted by Erik Estrada, Laura McKenzie, Dean Cain and Montel Williams, with Special Co-host Elizabeth Stanton. The emphasis this year is on family and keeping everyone safe and getting your jab seemed to be the main theme of everyone on the red carpet.
Celebrities were in full force, including Danny Trejo and his plus one, adorable Chihuahua Willow. Each celeb giving a greeting of cheer to all, and how keeping their spirits up through the pandemic is their main objective.
I spoke with the king and queen of soul, Billy Davis and Marilyn McCoo on the red carpet, bringing sense to all this madness with a cool, calm and collective demeanor, wishing us all a Merry Christmas and remembering that family is the most important thing. They also shared with us their upcoming appearance in The Waltons Christmas, which will be coming soon the to CW.
All the stars of daytime TV glittered with hope and happiness for 2022, and we whole-heartedly agree with them. We are going to make the best of the next year and the years to come. Cautious but optimistic will be the key phrase for the future.
The parade features Hollywood celebrities, movie cars, award-winning marching bands from around the country, dazzling equestrians, larger-than-life character balloons, colorful floats, and humorous specialty acts. The parade culminates with the appearance of the Jolly Old Elf himself, Santa Claus and his reindeer, ushering in the holiday season.
This year’s parade was like a beautiful fairytale, and sometime fairytales ARE real. We survived, and continue to survive, the pandemic so far and we should all give ourselves a pat on the back for bravery and pulling together to help each other.
Since no fairytale is complete without a prince, undercover reporter for Astro Royale, award winning television host, actor, producer and German prince, Prince Mario Max zu Shaunberg-Lippe and I strolled down the red carpet together.
The Annual Hollywood Christmas Parade has been an annual tradition since 1928, only cancelling 1942-1944 during World War II and last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
All in all, love will keep us together. See you all in 2022 for the 90th Annual Hollywood Christmas Parade.
The 89th Annual Hollywood Christmas Parade will be airing at 8 p.m. December 17, 2021, on the CW.
(thehollywoodchristmasparade.org)
All photos by Dietmar Kohl, Billy Bennight and Tequila Mockingbird (unless otherwise noted).