Spider-Man led off the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York on Thursday, followed by a steady stream of other big balloons that remained easy to maneuver on a morning of little or no wind. The parade route changed and lengthened slightly this year with more turns, which resulted in several viewing points from which you could see each balloon from different perspectives.   Click here for a 2:50 picture show set to music.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving Day 2009. I wanted to post these pics right after parade but you know… family obligations can keep you from doing personal stuff on the computer. I know not everyone can make it into the city to experience The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade so I’m hoping that my photos can give those of you who have never been to the parade an idea of what it’s like to be there. Obviously crowds of people, blocked off streets, and policemen are all staples during the parade. My personal favorite balloon is “Hello Kitty”.  Some new ballons this year-The “Pillsbury Doughboy” an “Sailor Mickey Mouse”.  The photo of The Pillsbury Doughboy reminds me of a scene in “Ghostbusters” for some reason.

For the Macy’s parade yesterday, they found a girl who looks like Natalie Wood in Miracle on 34th Street. Stranger, though, is that Santa looks not like Edmund Gwenn but Ernest Hemingway. Put Santa in a turtleneck sweater and you’ve got Papa from his book jacket photo. I’m pondering such things rather than shopping on Black Friday.

First, I hope you all had a very Happy Thanksgiving! I did, and just got back to Brooklyn, after a rather large meal at my “in-laws” in Queens. Now, in regards to the holiday season, I recently posted photos of the Macy’s Holiday Window Display from last year, which you can view by clicking here. Last Saturday evening, after the birthday dinner at Red Lobster, we strolled from Time Square to Herald Square, and stopped at Macy’s to take photos of this year’s wonderful decorations. They have this cool “Write a letter to Santa” concept, where you can customize your own letter by clicking on a touch-screen (see photo 2, 3 and 4), and I believe the letters used for the decorations are real letters written and sent by children. Brilliant idea!

Note: when you have enlarged a photo (by clicking on it), click on the smaller photo at the lower left to see the next photo. Enjoy!

For more photos visit NYCfoto.

I am so happy that C.A.L. is together today.  We went to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.  Here’s how it went down:

We got there obscenely early and there were already crowds there.  All the cops have New Yorker accents.  C. stopped counting balloons (that parents paid for and) kids let go at 127.  And kids really do say the darndest things:

“Hi Indians!  I’m learning about you in Social Studies!”

“Ooh look, jump rope!  You know the Chinese are really good at jump-rope” (looking up at L., a Chinese student).

“I’m Canadian”

“Is that Santa Dude?” (Dad’s response: “What, are you from CALIFORNIA or something?”)

The parade was fantastic–worth the early morning with groggy friends in tow on the subway and fighting to maintain our spot near the front.  And the cold.  Boy it was cold that early in the morning, the coldest I am willing to tolerate without complaining every 30 seconds.  Any colder than that and people will quickly get tired of me.

And now we’re listening to beautiful Santana music in Spanish.  Santana, by the way, is from the same neighborhood that I spent most of my childhood in (in CAL).  And English songs turned into Spanish–Demi Lovato is so much prettyier-sounding in Spanish, it turns out.

Sigh, this has been a great break so far, the best I could have ever asked for, considering life and all.  The past few days have been great.

Tomorrow’s Black Friday and it’s going to be another absurdly early morning and another epic day worthy of its own blog entry (trust me, there will be one–if I don’t pass out for a good 23 hours to recuperate from all this epicness).

And now on to warmed-up chocolate cake and clean-up.  What a day, what a day.

Watch Philip Herman draw quick black & white portraits on special pre-printed paper before the famous Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

Keke Palmer was aboard of the Build A Bear Workshop float, during the Macy’s 83rd Annual Thanksgiving parade earlier today. Keke performed her new song “Top of the World.”

Photosource: flickr.com

A lot to be thankful for this year! I’m excited to spend this quality time with family I haven’t seen in a while. Gain weight today. Lose it all tomorrow. Had a fun time so far watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Always a fun tradition.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Day is a harvest festival celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Traditionally, it is a time to give thanks for the harvest and express gratitude in general. While perhaps religious in origin, Thanksgiving is now primarily identified as a secular holiday.

Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States and on the second Monday of October in Canada. Thanksgiving dinner is held on this day, usually as a gathering of family members and friends.

Giant balloons, floats, marching bands and clowns with confetti are part of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade held in New York.

This year, for the first time, the parade route bypassed Broadway, which cuts a diagonal slice through Manhattan, as it made its way south from the Upper West Side to the finish at Macy’s flagship store in Herald Square.

The new route traverses the grid of the city’s streets and avenues, includes turns around five corners, and is slightly longer than in previous years.

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is a national holiday tradition, and has been so for the past 83 years, and this year the tradition continued.

This year, the parade route returns to its roots with it ending at 34th street right in front of the Macy’s store. This is different than it has been in recent years.

 There is a list of performers that include Katharine McPhee, Jane Krakowski, and we have Spiderman, Kermit and Spongebob floating down the parade route. Ziggy Marley, the son of the legendary Reggae singer Bob Marley, performed a song with his daughter on a float decorated as a pirate ship.

Ziggy Marley and Daughter awaiting performance at Macy Thanksgiving Day Parade today

 Ziggy performed his new song ”It’s Family Time” while holding his daughter in his arms so she could reach the mike…very cute.

Katharine McPhee, sporting her new sassy blonde ‘do, performed her new single “Had It All.” Jane Krakowski performed a Christmas tune. She may play a ditzy spoiled celeb on “30 Rock,” but in real-life Krakowski is quite the songbird.

Teen superstar Miley Cyrus made an exuberant appearance waving to her throngs of excited fans that lined the parade route waiting patiently for the international superstar. She looked great, in light of the bush crash tragedy that killed her long time tour bus driver this past friday. Today was much happier times for her.

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade aired on CBS and NBC at noon ET/9 am PT.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING…NOW GO EAT….

Jay Sean performed at this years Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade with his smash hit “Down.”

• Kohls: 15% off $100 coupon expires December 31. Coupon code FIFTEENOBG gives you 15% off your online order of $100 or more.
• Sports Authority: 15% off coupon expires December 31. Coupon code TSACABIN15 gives you 15% off your entire online order (some exclusions may apply; see website)
• Drugstore.com: $10 off $80 coupon expires December 31. Click here.
• Macys: $20 off $100 coupon expires November 30. Coupon code CTX768FU38QR gives you $20 off online orders of $100 or more.
• NFL Shop: 15% off coupon expires December 31 with the coupon code SPRINTVIP2. 10% off $100 coupon expires November 30. Click here.
• Karmaloop: 15% off coupon expires November 29. Coupon code GIO gives you 15% off your entire online order.
• Express: 20% off coupon expires November 26. Coupon code 4397 gives you 20% off your entire online order.
• Foot Locker: $50 off $200 coupon expires November 30. Coupon code IPFLBF93 gives you $50 off online orders of $200 or more (some exclusions apply; see website)
Technorati Tags: kohls,sports authority,drugstore.com,macys,nfl shop,nfl,karmaloop,express,foot locker,deals,savings,coupons

Happy Thanksgiving.

While most of you were sleeping, I checked off another one of my life goals today and attended this year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. For the past however many years that I have been alive, I have never been up to see the start of the Parade (live or on tape delay). But the conviction of my heart led me to decide, this will be the year. The plan, to wake up and get to 7th Ave. at 5am. My body just cringed a bit just thinking about it; that would mean getting maybe 2 hours of sleep, then zombying my way to the subway? Not a chance.

But then, an angel from heaven descended and gave me a treat: a friend of a friend works at Carnegie Hall (7th Ave.) and has an office window overlooking the parade. Jack pot.

Oh hey, suckers on the street. “Sir, the street’s closed, they aren’t letting anyone through.” Is that right, old lady? Watch this. Boom. 7 floors up. Goodbye crying children, hello balloons.

The echoes of the marching bands, bouncing off the buildings, the wafting smell of churro carts, the clean air, unpolluted by strollers, snobby UWS (upper west side) families or shoulder to shoulder germ transmissions. Carnegie Hall, one of the most famous and beloved musical venues in New York City, and here I am, in an office upstairs watching Kermit and Company float on by.

The least I could do was bring a thermos and some hot cocoa (check).

So folks, you may be cozy in your homes watching football, stuffing yourself with loads of home cooked delectables, but just remember, I got to see the Macy’s Parade live, from an office in Carnegie Hall. Ah.

Now, let the football begin and let us consume food and drink to our heart’s content. Be merry, for we have many things to be thankful for. I am thankful for Mickey, Snoopy, Buzz Lightyear, Spongebob, and of course Spiderman.

I am thankful for all my readers, you are all dear to me. Gobble gobble, friends, gobble gobble.

Target 2 day sale, 2007.

Shoe Carnival, 2009

Montgomery ward, 1982

Gottschalks, 2008? 2009?

Bradlees, 1995

Verizon Wireless (montage), 2008.

Target, 2009 (I’m jeals of the gingerbread Target)

Wonderland Music, 1989

Macys, 1978 (its the 4th commercial–could the Texas Instruments watch commercial be the longest commercial for a watch ever? Also notice the Child World commercial)

Thanksgiving night commercials, 1989. Obligatory, “WE’LL DO IT LIVE!!” comment that one has to make when seeing Billo on Inside Edition. &ROADHOUSE

Thanksgiving Night, 1986

Zayre, 1978

Zayre, 1984

Caldor, 1995

*

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.”
*

–John Fitzgerald Kennedy

~*~

*

1948, Hyannisport, Massachusetts, USA — Kennedy family at Thanksgiving at Hyannisport, Massachusetts. From left: John F. Kennedy, Jean Ann Smith, Rose Kennedy, Joseph Kennedy Sr., Patricia Lawford, Robert F. Kennedy, Eunice Mary Shriver, Edward Kennedy (squatting). — Image by © CORBIS

*

~*~

*

Enuff of the preachin’, go and enjoy the parade in vintage B & W–

*

Circa 1940, Manhattan, NY:  This float, depicting a scene from the “Thief Of Bagdad,” was among those included in the annual Macy Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City.  – Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

*

Times Square, Manhattan, NY:  Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade at Times Square. Photograph, ca. 1930s. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

*

1956, Manhattan, NY: Photo taken at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City shows the crowd watching behind a police barricade and children watching in front of the barricade. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

*

Circa 1930, Manhattan, NY:  Photo shows the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Giant balloons are led down the street by attendants, past sidewalks crowded with spectators. Ca. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

*

Circa 1939, Times Square, Manhattan, NY:  A great multitude of New Yorkers turned out today for the great annual free Thanksgiving show staged up by R.H. Macy’s department store. The parade was up to the minute with the giant replicas of comic strip and movie charactors that never fail to make a hit. Here is a view of the Tin-Man from the Wizard of OZ made from the sixth story of a Times Square building as the parade went past. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

*

Circa 1931, Manhattan, NY:  View of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on Broadway.   Image foregrounds giant hippopotamus balloon. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

*

Circa 1941, Manhattan, NY:  Parade participants hold ropes attached to the Santa Claus parade balloon as it collapses during the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

**

Circa 1934, Manhattan, NY:  This gigantic figure of Eddie Cantor, featured in the annual Macy parade which every year brings joy to the kiddies of New York. The route of march was down Broadway through the theatrical center and hundreds of thousands of kiddies lined the route of the march. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

*

Circa 1934, Manhattan, NY:  This big crybaby balloon was one of the features in the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade which paraded down Broadway, bringing joy to the hearts of the thousands of kiddies who lined the route of March. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

*

Circa 1958, Manhattan, NY:  Thanksgiving Day – Macy’s Parade. Spaceman Balloon Held Up By Crane Moves Down Broadway.  Towering Spaceman balloon, held by crane, wins out-of-this-world admiration from young and old at Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

*

Circa 1959, Manhattan, NY:  Thanksgiving Day – Macy’s Parade. A balloon of a thirsty crocodile in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

*

Date unknown, Manhattan, NY:  Crowd Watching Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. — Image by © Underwood & Underwood/CORBIS

*

Circa 1959, Manhattan, NY:  Thanksgiving Day – Macy’s Parade. Balloon of crocodile in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

*

Circa 1952, Times Square, Manhattan, NY:  A giant spaceman balloon looms over the crowd watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. The helium-filled balloon was one of the Macy parade’s five stellar attractions, with 15 floats, 11 bands, 31 comedy acts and 54 clowns regaling delighted spectators. An estimated 2,250,000 persons, mostly children, enjoyed the “standing room only” show. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

*

Circa 1962, Manhattan, NY:  A giant Bullwinkle float looms over the crowd in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. Despite the weather, a large crowd came out to see the parade on a rainy Thanksgiving Day. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

*

Circa 1951, Times Square, Manhattan, NY:  Thanksgiving Day – Macy’s Parade. Happy Holiday For Many… A Toy Soldier Balloon, paced by float bearing an American eagle, lords it over Times square as Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade provides the annual eye treat. More than 2,000,000 persons, old and younG, viewed the holiday capers. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

*

Circa 1962, Times Square, Manhattan, NY:  Macy’s Parade. Times Square & 43rd Street. All He’s Quacked Up To Be, Donald Duck takes a bow in Times Square. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

*

Circa 1959, Times Square, Manhattan, NY:  Popeye, one of the huge balloons in the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, makes its way through Times Square. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

*

Circa 1959, Manhattan, NY:  Thanksgiving Day – Macy’s Parade. Spaceman is seen as it comes down Broadway in the annual Macy Day Parade. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

*

Circa 1959, Times Square, Manhattan, NY:  Thanksgiving Day – Macy’s Parade. ‘Here comes Popeye. The pipe-puffing sailor man, high-strung and swaying in a brisk breeze, floats over Times Square as one of the balloon characters in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. A million kids of all ages saw it.’ — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

*

Circa 1959, Times Square, Manhattan, NY:  Macy Day Parade. Photo shows the “Turkey” one of the helium filled balloons on it’s way through Times Square. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

*

Circa 1961, Times Square, Manhattan, NY:  Thanksgiving Day Parade, flying dragon balloon. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

*

Circa 1925, Manhattan, NY:  Santa Claus rides a parade float pulled by a team of horses down Broadway during the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

*

Circa 1940, Times Square, Manhattan, NY:  Hippo Balloon at the Thanksgiving Day Parade. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

*

Circa 1941, Times Square, Manhattan, NY:  Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade 1941 — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

*

Circa 1941, NY:  Some pretty queer looking pedestrians can be observed at large gatherings at Broadway, but some of the creatures who make their way down the famed thoroughfare in the annual Macy Thanksgiving Parade are enough to faze even a taxi driver. Here throngs of New Yorkers jamming Columbus Circle gape as a flying fish swings onto Broadway from Central Park West. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

*

Circa 1933, Manhattan, NY:  Macy’s Parade. Ooh, Father Knickerbocker, Your Streets Are So Narrow! You can just hear “Andy the Alligator” complaining of the narrowness of New York’s most famous “lane” which is Broadway, as the helium inflated “Andy” floated over and dwarfed the street and everything in it. “Andy” and a host of such gargantuan figures of rubber delighted the myriads of New York kiddies and their Ma and Pas in the annual Thanksgiving Day Parade of a New York department store, that ushers in the Christmas shopping season, and the store’s opening of its toy department. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

*

Circa 1955, Times Square, Manhattan, NY:  Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade passes Times Square in New York City. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

*

Circa 1949, Times Square, Manhattan, NY:  There was more than turkey with all the trimmings for New Yorkers today.   Youngsters and oldsters got an extra treat from the gas bags, floats and bands in the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. This critter looked down on the crowd as the procession went through the Times Square area. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

*

Circa 1963, Manhattan, NY:  Larger Than Life. Members of the “ground crew” appear to have their hands full as they prepare to “launch” Dino the Dinosaur, a feature of the Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade, November 28th. Launching site was Central Park West in the seventies, where a huge net keeps Dino anchored. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

*

Circa 1900s, Manhattan, NY:  A Felix the Cat and other parade floats and balloons are led down Broadway during the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. — Image by © Underwood & Underwood/CORBIS

*

Date unknown, NY:  A Turkey balloon in an early Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade — Image by © Underwood & Underwood/CORBIS

*

Circa 1949, Times Square, Manhattan, NY:  Man Of The Moment. It was quite a treat for these youngsters when a Santa Claus on stilts stopped to shake hands with them and find out what they want for Christmas at Times Square during the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. Grownups got a big kick out of the proceedings too. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

*

Circa 1975, Times Square, NY:  Seven-year-old Wanda Ojeda gets an early start letting Santa know what she’s expecting for Christmas. She just happened to be on hand as Santas gathered in the Times Square area here to kick off the 79th Annual Christmas Fund-Raising Campaign for the Volunteers of America. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

*

Ok so this may not be thoughtful and wonderful but Thanksgiving means a few very specific things to me.  The best way to describe those things is to give you a run down of what my Thanksgiving consists of…

Photo Credit Flickr ChrisB

First thing, I wake up to a newspaper and donuts.  Mostly, ok completely, thanks to my amazing, wonderful, handsome, perfect, did I mention amazing husband.  He wakes up early, and sneaks out to bring me back my newspaper (ads are a must), donuts, juice, and usually some flowers.  I then spread my ads all over the coffee table, or in years past the occasional bed and watch the parade and read the ads, mapping out the must stops for Black Friday. I love love love the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.  It is my favorite part of Thanksgiving, it is the definition of Thanksgiving.  My favorite part is at the very end, I know strange, but when Santa comes rolling down.  It means I can let Christmas leave the inside of my house (because it starts after Halloween if you ask me) and hang up lights and wear my Christmas shirts.  And even though my mom and I just started participating in Black Friday a couple of years ago, we have always loved reading the ads together.  This is my absolute favorite part of Thanksgiving.  I look forward to it every year.  And even with getting married and blending families and growing families we’ve (read amazing husband) has managed to keep my favorite part of this holiday intact.  The ads, the parade, some donuts, Colin, Charles, and my mom.  That’s all I need to have a great Thanksgiving!

Ok next (and this year will be a little different) we have the food.  Usually my gram cooks everything, which amounts to, turkey, mashed potatoes, baked sweet potatoes, green beans, carrots, rolls, whole cranberries, jellied cranberries, cornbread stuffing and bread stuffing and occasionally candied sweet potatoes.  But this year I will be doing the cooking, that’s right if you’re reading this on Turkey Day I will be elbow deep in a turkey, ok maybe not at this moment but it was a wicked visual right!?  I will be making most of these things, there will be no candied sweet potatoes but for totally selfish reasons (I hate them).  Also no cornbread stuffing, because I’m just not that cool.  Also I’ll be doing what my Gram does and making pies!  This is the only part I’m afraid of.  I will be making 3 types of pies, with varying degrees of from scratch hehe.  A dutch apple pie for that amazing husband of mine, a pecan and a pumpkin.  I really am excited to do all of this and I hope it will be a new tradition for our Thanksgiving.

Mostly to be Thanksgiving is my family, playing games, eating food, laughing so much our faces hurt on the drive home.  But it all starts with that amazing wonderful parade!

From http://news.nationalgeographic.com/

It may be called Turkey Day, but the U.S. Thanksgiving Day is about more than just the bird. Learn about a holiday myth—the first “real” Thanksgiving wasn’t until the 1800s—and how we celebrate Thanksgiving dinner today.

Key to any Thanksgiving Day menu is a fat turkey and cranberry sauce.

Some 250 million turkeys were raised in the U.S. in 2009 for slaughter, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. Those birds were worth about U.S. $4.5 billion.

About 46 million will end up on U.S. dinner tables this Thanksgiving. (See the Green Guide’s suggestions for having a greener—and more grateful—Thanksgiving.)

Minnesota is the United States’s top turkey-producing state, followed by North Carolina, Arkansas, Missouri, Virginia, and California.

These “big six” states produce two of every three U.S.-raised birds, according to data compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau.

U.S. farmers will also produce 709 million pounds of cranberries, which, like turkeys, are native to the Americas. The top producers are Wisconsin and Massachusetts.

The U.S. will also grow 1.8 billion pounds of sweet potatoes—many in North Carolina, California, and Mississippi—and produce 1.1 billion pounds of pumpkins.

Contrary to legend, the amount of the organic protein tryptophan in most turkeys isn’t responsible for drowsiness.

Instead scientists blame booze, the sheer caloric size of an average feast, or just plain old relaxing after stressful work schedules.

What Was on the First Thanksgiving Menu?

Little is known about the first Thanksgiving dinner in the Plimoth (also spelled Plymouth) Colony in October 1621, attended by some 50 English colonists and about 90 native Wampanoag men in what is now Massachusetts.

We do know that the Wampanoag killed five deer for the feast, and that the colonists shot wild fowl—which may have been geese, ducks, or turkey. Some form, or forms, of Indian corn were also served.

But Jennifer Monac, spokesperson for the living-history museum Plimoth Plantation said the feasters likely supplemented their venison and birds with fish, lobster, clams, nuts, and wheat flour, as well as vegetables such as pumpkin, squash, carrots, and peas.

If you want to eat like a Pilgrim yourself, try some of the Plimoth Plantation’s recipes, including stewed pompion (pumpkin) or traditional Wampanoag succotash.

Where Did Thanksgiving Come From?

American Indian peoples, Europeans, and other cultures around the world often celebrated the harvest season with feasts to offer thanks to higher powers for their sustenance and survival.

In 1541 Spaniard Francisco Vásquez de Coronado and his troops celebrated a “Thanksgiving” while searching for New World gold in what is now the Texas Panhandle.

Later such feasts were held by French Huguenot colonists in present-day Jacksonville, Florida (1564), by English colonists and Abnaki Indians at Maine’s Kennebec River (1607), and in Jamestown, Virginia (1610), when the arrival of a food-laden ship ended a brutal famine.

But it’s the 1621 Plimoth Thanksgiving that’s linked to the birth of our modern holiday. The truth is the first “real” Thanksgiving happened two centuries later.

Everything we know about the three-day Plimoth gathering comes from a description in a letter wrote by Edward Winslow, leader of the Plimoth Colony, in 1621, Monac said.

It had been lost for 200 years and was rediscovered in the 1800s, she added.

In 1841 Boston publisher Alexander Young printed Winslow’s brief account of the feast and added his own twist, dubbing it the “First Thanksgiving.”

In Winslow’s “short letter, it was clear that [the 1621 feast] was not something that was supposed to be repeated again and again. It wasn’t even a Thanksgiving, which in the 17th century was a day of fasting. It was a harvest celebration.”

But after its mid-1800s century appearance, Young’s designation caught on—to say the least.

U.S. President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving Day a national holiday in 1863. He was probably swayed in part by magazine editor Sarah Josepha Hale—the author of the nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb”—who had suggested Thanksgiving become a holiday, historians say.

In 1941 President Franklin Roosevelt established the current date for observance, the fourth Thursday of November.

Thanksgiving Turkey-in-Waiting

Each year at least two lucky turkeys avoid the dinner table, thanks to a presidential pardon—a longstanding Washington tradition believed to have originated with U.S. President Harry Truman.

Since 1947 the National Turkey Federation has presented two live turkeys—and a ready-to-eat turkey—to the President, according to federation spokesperson Sherrie Rosenblatt.

“There are two birds,” Rosenblatt explained, “the presidential turkey and the vice presidential turkey, which is an alternate, in case the presidential turkey is unable to perform its duties.”

Those duties pretty much boil down to not biting the President during the photo opportunity with the press.

In 2008 the vice presidential bird, “Pumpkin,” stepped in for the appearance with President Bush after the presidential bird, “Pecan,” had fallen ill the night before.

After their presidential encounter, the birds share the same happy fate as Super Bowl winning quarterbacks.

“For the last five years,” Rosenblatt said, “They’ve gone to Disneyland”—living out their days at Big Thunder Ranch in the California theme park’s Frontierland.

Talking Turkey

Pilgrims were familiar with turkeys before they landed in the Americas.

That’s because early European explorers of the New World had returned to Europe with turkeys in tow after encountering them at American Indian settlements. Indians had domesticated the birds centuries before European contact.

A century later Ben Franklin famously made known his preference that the turkey, rather than the bald eagle, should be the official U.S. bird.

But Franklin might have been shocked when, by the 1930s, hunting had so decimated North American wild turkey populations that their numbers had dwindled to the tens of thousands from a peak of at least tens of millions.

Today, thanks to reintroduction efforts and hunting regulations, wild turkeys are back.

(Related: “Birder’s Journal: Giving Thanks for Wild Turkey Sightings.”

Some seven million wild turkeys are thriving across the U.S., and many of them have adapted easily to the suburbs.

Wild turkeys, Meleagris gallopavo, can run some 10 to 20 miles (16 to 32 kilometers) an hour and fly in bursts at 55 miles (89 kilometers) an hour. Domesticated turkeys can’t fly at all.

Pass the Pigskin

For many U.S. citizens, Thanksgiving without football is as unthinkable as the Fourth of July without fireworks.

NBC Radio broadcast the first national Thanksgiving Day game in 1934, when the Detroit Lions hosted the Chicago Bears.

Except for a respite during World War II, the Lions have played—usually badly—every Thanksgiving Day since.

Consumers Rejoice!

For those who love marching and music, turkey takes a backseat to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City, originally called the Macy’s Christmas parade because it kicked off the shopping season.

The tradition began in 1924, when employees recruited animals from the Central Park Zoo to join the parade.

Helium-filled balloons made their debut in the parade in 1927 and, in the early years, were released above the city skyline with the promise of rewards for their finders.

The parade, first televised nationally in 1947, now draws some 44 million viewers—not counting the 3 million people who actually line the 2.5-mile (4-kilometer) Manhattan route.

Thanksgiving weekend also boasts the retail version of the Super Bowl—Black Friday, when massive sales and early opening times attract frugal shoppers.

The National Retail Federation reports that some 130 million Americans, give or take a few million each year, brave the crowds to shop on Black Friday or on the following weekend.

Planes, Trains, and (Lots of) Automobiles

It may seem like everyone in the U.S. is on the road on Thanksgiving Day, keeping you from your turkey and stuffing.

But just 33 million of about 308 million U.S. citizens drive more than 50 miles (80 kilometers) from home on the holiday, according to the American Automobile Association.

Thanksgiving North of the Border

Cross-border travelers can celebrate Thanksgiving twice, because Canada celebrates its own Thanksgiving Day the second Monday in October.

As in the U.S., the event is sometimes linked to a historic feast with which it has no real ties—in this case explorer Martin Frobisher’s 1578 ceremony, which gave thanks for his safe arrival in what is now New Brunswick.

Canada’s Thanksgiving, established in 1879, was inspired by the U.S. holiday.

Dates of observance fluctuated, sometimes coinciding with the U.S. Thanksgiving or the Canadian veteran-appreciation holiday, Remembrance Day—and at least once it occurred as late as December.

But Canada’s colder climate eventually led to the 1957 decision that formalized the October date.

Here’s some information on the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade from the New York Daily News……

Best thing about the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade? The balloon inflation event held the day before on the side streets off Central Park West, next to the American Museum of Natural History. Here are a few shots I took this afternoon of tomorrow’s (latex?) guests of honor.

Folks are working hard to energize this bunny.

Shrek is back for a third time.

Rubik's Cubes? Or what?

Life source.

Just cute.

Ho girato per un po, fatto spesa per la cena e la colazione di domani che deve essere robusta visto l’alzataccia per vedere la parata di Macy’s… ho controllato le varie postazioni lungo central park, mi sono fermato a rimirare il Plaza, quello che una volta era l’HOTEL, proprio scritto tutto in maiuscolo… il PLAZA era il PLAZA, non un hotel qualsiasi… mi scuserà il vecchio e sempre verde Walford Astoria, ma lui era ed è rimasto un sogno.

Un sogno che ora si chiama Private Recidence, lo si può avverare se nel proprio portafoglio di ha un assegno entry level di 1,3 milioni di dollari… se lo si ha le porte si aprono… Ora è tutto un residence…

Tutto questo perchè girandomi mi sono imbattuto nel nostro sogno possibile, quel fantastico e semplicissimo cubo trasparente illuminato da una mela… la vera e propria babele di New York. Ecco quando Microsoft capirà che non basta copiare uno store per avere lo stesso successo beh Apple si sarà inventata altro sicuramente.

Dicevo una babele: qui si trovano tutti, italiani, francesi, portoricani, indigeni, tedeschi, svizzeri insomma chiunque passi da new york viene qui.. per vedere lo store della quinta, per leggere la proprio mail, per fare video da mandare agli amici e/o parenti… ecco qualcuno dall’altra parte ci è mai stato qui? dico arrivano persone con il doppio dei miei anni si mettono davanti ad un mac e registrano un video inviandolo via mail senza sapere quello che fanno… e parlano con il vicino nella propria lingua ascoltando il pazzo di R&B dall’altra parte dello store che sta uccidendo uno zeppelin della B&H per il solo gusti di vedere quanto regge…

Babele, casino, commessi sempre pazienti e a disposizione… per non dimenticare di tutti i mac: macbook, air, imac messi li alla mercè di tutti, immolati al servizio della gente… guardateli, usateli ed imparate quanto un mac vi possa cambiare la vita.

Bon torno fuori, piove e la strada per casa è lunga, visto che il sottoscritto ci è venuto correndo e vuole evitare la metro.

From the NYDailyNews.com:

Four new giant balloons — Spiderman, The Pillsbury Doughboy, Ronald McDonald and Sailor Mickey — debut at the 83rd annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Although crowds will see them for the first time on Thanksgiving morning (or at the balloon inflation event the night before), it takes months to design and launch a giant balloon.

The process starts with selection. “To get up in the sky you have to be instantly recognizable, everyone has to understand who you are,” says Amy Kule, parade producer. “The Pillsbury Doughboy is a great example. This is his first year in the parade and when we tested the balloons you just knew instinctively he belonged up there.”

Balloons start out at the Macy’s Parade Studio in Hoboken, N.J. where they are meticulously molded out of clay to be 100 percent faithful to their original character design. They are cut and sewn into balloons offsite, then tested a few weeks before the parade. It’s a painstaking process that requires an incredible amount of attention to detail to an enormous balloon.

Kule says that this time of year is both incredibly intense, but also a lot of fun, “I’m filled with anticipation and I don’t get much sleep on the eve of Thanksgiving,” she says. “But by the time I see that first balloon, with three million people watching it, instead of being uptight or nervous, I get a sense of calm.”

Even though Kule is thrilled to see so many new balloons in the parade this year, she has a special place in her heart for a returning favorite. “SpongeBob makes me laugh,” she says. “Balloons want to be round and he’s this big square body. That’s no easy feat.”

Spiderman

This year, Spiderman returns to celebrate both his second appearance in the parade and Marvel’s 70th anniversary. The first Spiderman balloon debuted back in 1987 and was a Thanksgiving regular for about a decade. The new design features far more defined muscles. Says Kule, of his time off, “Spidey’s been working out. We should all look so good in tights.”

The Pillsbury Doughboy

A total newcomer to the parade, The Pillsbury Doughboy promises to be a new favorite. The biggest problem with this balloon? Millions of people will want to poke that belly, but with the Doughboy clocking in a 46.4-feet tall, they won’t be able to reach.

Ronald McDonald

This is the iconic clown’s third parade appearance and this time he’s come back as an athlete. Ronald McDonald dons what may be the world’s largest pair of ice skates for the occasion to glide through Manhattan with ease come Thanksgiving morning.

Sailor Mickey

This will be the fourth Mickey Mouse balloon design in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and Mickey was one of the first characters to appear in the parade back in the 1930s. This new Sailor Mickey recalls the classic Steamboat Willie version of the famous mouse, but with modern styling.