Going to church on Central Park West affords the advantage of VIP steps for viewing the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. We haven't missed a parade in the last five years and 2008 definitely trumped past years. No rain. No scaffolding. No wind. No getting stuck on the opposite side of CPW.
It was a glorious day for floats and balloons and majorettes. We have fallen behind on our cartoon-awareness and had to turn often to the children for explanation. Once Kylee arrived we had a trusty aficionado to guide us through the Care Bears and Buzz Lightyears.
The balloon handlers were set for smooth sailing this year with the wind in repose. The early-riser below wasn't the only parader in matching-balloon-outfit-fashion expressing his excitement.
The Thanksgiving floats are often accompanied by celebrities. All of us in our separate generations jumped a bit with recognition: Jaclynn for Miley Cyrus, Benedicta for Lang Lang, and me - well, I think I was the only one who shrieked for Rick Astley.
To my surprise, a gathering of birthday cakes stopped right in front of us to sing Happy Birthday! I know it was big news that I decided to celebrate my Thanksgiving Birthday this year but I had no idea the news spread so far and wide.
We were on the lookout for the Williamsburg Fife, Drum and Bugle Corps (right after Kermit!) as friends of friends had a son marching. They stopped for a song just for us and I snapped away hoping to catch a photo of Drew, even though the only distinguishing factor I knew was that he was playing a fife.
The Macy's parade is not a completely altruistic endeavor. Though we delight in the colors and cartoons, it wraps up nicely with a reminder to shop (and why not at Macy's) like an elf to fill up Santa's bag.
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