Best Morning of the Year

I cannot decide if it’s Thanksgiving Day that I love so much, or if it’s the day before that actually sets my heart aflutter in all of the anticipation. There is no morning of the year when I spring out of bed with as much gusto as on Thanksgiving morning. Four words: Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. There is nothing more spirited, more American, more fun, or more traditional than this yearly event that sprouts and blossoms happiness throughout my soul. The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is the one day of the year when I willingly surrender to dopey, nostalgic, cartoonish Americana, and do so with relish. Seriously, I dig right into the sappy smiling broadcast and wallow in the joy. All I need is a cup of coffee and NBC, and all at once I’m wide-eyed with childish delight. (Of course, the other great part about Thanksgiving is that it’s the one Thursday of the year when you can properly stay in your jammies most of the day. The only thing better would be jammies with feet.) From 9AM PST I am happily ensconced - I love every single moment broadcast from Herald Square – when can you get this many Broadway numbers in your living room for free? I’ll even go along with the B and C-list pop stars lip-synching their song of the moment from a silly float. And don’t forget the Rockettes – never, never forget the Rockettes. Who can resist that long line of girls-next door, all between 5’6” and 5’ 10”, tapping their way into the dreams of little girls across the fifty states? The Rockettes epitomize the glamour of the all-American woman.

My favorite parts of the parade have to be the balloons and the bands. There is nothing that will age one more than realizing just how much the giant balloons have changed over their lifetime. When I was young, I looked forward to Spiderman, Super Grover, Big Bird, Kermit, and Clifford the Big Red Dog. Now I have to contend with Sponge Bob, Jeeves, and Dora the Explorer. Big balloon times, they are a-changin’. The bands are what really bring a sappy tear to my eye though. I can’t explain it, but for some reason the lively pitter-patter-snap-bang of marching band snare drums makes my heart quicken – and this is from someone whose high school didn’t even have a marching band. I am also a sucker for the stories of “how they made it to this year’s parade” by collectively washing cars, selling candy door-to-door, or holding bake sales, just to raise enough money to get the band to the big, bad, New York City from their Small Town, USA. I love the baton-twirlers, the synchronized flag-wavers (what are they called?), and even the cheerleaders. Does any other country have anything like this for their youth to aspire to? Could there be anything more American than proudly marching in high school colors down the Great White Way?

Tom the Turkey is a fantastic float, especially with the two hatchet-faced Pilgrims twirling in front of him, but nothing is better than Santa Claus riding that beautiful white swan into Herald Square - the confetti, the kids, the elves…sigh! For a few hours every Thanksgiving morning, I’m a kid again I don’t need to worry about a thing: Santa Claus is coming to town.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!! 

Image from Associated Press