Thanksgiving in New York

thanksgiving in new york / a thousand threadsthanksgiving in new york / a thousand threads
There is something so absurd about the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade… the giant balloons, the cold, Richard Simmons riding a turtle…

And yet, it’s the absurdity that makes it all fun. I have to admit I was skeptical going in. I’m not a big fan of crowds… or the cold… or well, to be honest I kind of hate parades. Put all three together and you’re looking at my personal idea of hell. So waking up early to traipse out into the cold and the wind, just to stand for three hours and wait for a parade… no thank you. I’ll see everyone at dinner.

BUT — when you have a seven-year-old, and you really hope that it might be one of the most magical days of his little life, all of a sudden, even if you hate it all, it’s kind of hard to miss…

thanksgiving in new york / a thousand threadsthanksgiving in new york / a thousand threads
So I went… into the crowds and the cold to wait for the absurdity to begin.

And well, for a while it felt a little bit like this…

thanksgiving in new york / a thousand threads
But then it all began.

thanksgiving in new york / a thousand threadsthanksgiving in new york / a thousand threadsthanksgiving in new york / a thousand threads
And I don’t know what it was… maybe delirium had set in as the numbness moved up from all of our feet to our heads. (Mark’s mom, who hadn’t brought a hat, eventually resorted to our plastic breakfast bag to try to hold it all in, whatever bit of heat was left. That clown up there is letting her know that it’s the most beautiful hat he’s ever seen.)

But as soon as it all began, I went from hating parades, to looking like this…

thanksgiving in new york / a thousand threads
…  officially one of the most magical days of this seven-year-old’s life too.

thanksgiving in new york / a thousand threadsthanksgiving in new york / a thousand threads
Despite the cold (and a two-hour wait in it to get off of Liberty Island… I’m not sure I’ll ever thaw out) the rest of the trip was just as good. We visited the Statue of Liberty, ate at some of our favorite spots, had an amazing Thanksgiving dinner at David Burke Kitchen and an even more amazing goodbye at Marea (naturally the really important part is the food), saw Spider Man fly, and appreciated the chance to spend the holiday together in this city we’ve all come to love.

thanksgiving in new york / a thousand threadsthanksgiving in new york / a thousand threads
I can’t say I’ll be doing the whole stand-in-the-cold thing again anytime soon (we all agreed it was a once-in-a-generation thing) but who knows, maybe if we have another little seven-year-old one of these days we’ll have to make sure their Thanksgiving memories are magical too.

thanksgiving in new york / a thousand threadsthanksgiving in new york / a thousand threadsthanksgiving in new york / a thousand threadsthanksgiving in new york / a thousand threads

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