The Macy's Parade

We were sitting about 1 1/2 blocks from the Empire State Building - perfect location!

Here's Miley Cyrus promoting the movie "Bolt." We also got to see James Taylor on a float.

This parade is possibly one of my favorite events of the year. Every Thanksgiving morning that I can remember, I've woken up and watched this parade in my PJ's while my mother got the turkey started and my siblings slowly arose from bed. This event officially ushers in the Holiday Season, and it signifies a great American tradition for generations past. No matter what era children have lived within, the looming and brightly colored massive balloons, the shiny tubas and the clanging cymbals of the marching bands, and the grand finale - Santa on his slay - have continued to thrill and excite children again and again. And there is something sociologically enchanting about this event - people from all over America join together in excitement and anticipation and sheer silliness to watch the Macy's parade. This may sound cheesy or trite to some, but I think that there is significance in traditions like these...there is something completely humane in the unity these events bring about.

I've also watched the movie "Miracle on 34th St" every single Thanksgiving weekend for as long as I can remember. This movie features prominently the Macy's parade, and it has always been a dream of mine to attend the parade live some year. Now that James and I live only 1 hour from the city, we had to make it up to the parade at least once.

So this was the year! James was a very good sport (although there were a few grumbles prior to the event), but we both had a fantastic time. Most of our friends told us we were crazy for wanting to go stand amongst huge crowds in the freezing cold, but it was completely worth it. We actually got very lucky with our seating because a man gave us free tickets when we got up there to sit in the special grandstand bleachers right in front of the Macy's store. So our view was perfect, we got to sit down the whole time, and the temperature was really quite pleasant - around 45 degrees and mostly sunny. So here's to the Holiday Season!