Thanksgiving in New York

Thanksgivings were spent at my Grandma Alice's cozy, little, red brick house in Oklahoma. She lived in a small town where we would go to Walmart or Sonic "for fun". The town was probably booming back in the old days and still has that old-timey, antique-looking feel to it.

The whole family (parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins) would snuggle up into her house on Thanksgiving. Every year we would wake up and watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Everyone would bring different food dishes and we would eat for days. Literally. For days.

But this time was different.

There would be no going to Grandma Alice's house for Thanksgiving. I wasn't able to come home from New York so my parents decided to come to me. However, one tradition still remained.

On Thanksgiving morning we woke up and watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. But this time we didn't watch it on T.V. At 5 am it was time to rise and shine. My mom, dad, roommate and I began the trek to Midtown in Manhattan.

It was definitely below freezing that morning. I'm talking can't feel your face, can't feel your toes, kind of cold.

Oh and the heater just happened to stop working in our apartment. Just tell yourself it's not cold and you'll be warm right? Wrong.

For me the cold is painful. Literally painful because I have a circulation disorder called Raynaud's. Basically when I'm cold (or nervous) I lose circulation to my fingers and toes and they turn unnaturally white, blue, or purple.

But if you're in New York and have the opportunity to go watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade you must. You have to go at least once to say you've been.

The balloons and floats are massive in real life. It probably takes at least a hundred people to "walk" the balloons through the parade. Imagine how much of a struggle that would be on a windy day!

So we found a spot on the sidewalk in front of a little doughnut and coffee shop.


*tip* If it's below freezing outside find a place to watch in front of a coffee shop or restaurant where you can go inside and warm up if you need to.

Also bring lawn chairs so you don't have to stand the whole time. I wish we would have known this before.