After enjoying the Chamber of Commerce’s Christmas parade Saturday afternoon in downtown Oxford, Hunter Chamberlain, 1, of South Carolina, got to give a reindeer a little kiss on the nose in Centennial Park. Holding him is his mother, Ashley (Seeling) Chamberlain, a 2006 graduate of Oxford High School. The deer is from Rooftop Landing Reindeer Farm. Photo by C.J. Carnacchio.

Downtown Oxford was ground zero for the kickoff of the 2017 holiday season with the Soup & Sweet Stroll Friday night and the annual Christmas parade Saturday afternoon.

For Soup Stroll photos, please turn to Page 11. For plenty of parade photos, check out pages 14 and 15.

This year’s parade consisted of 40 entries. Winning “Best Float” was the Metamora-based On Pointe School of Dance. The award for “Best Walking Group” went to the Center Stage Dance Company, of Oxford. The award for “Best Theme” went to Lake Orion Plumbing, Heating and Cooling.