1. I woke up at 4:30 a.m. Thursday to take the train into Manhattan so I could see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. What a blast! A friend from work and I, her two teenagers and two of their friends stood for two hours by Times Square, waiting for the parade. Thousands and thousands of others gathered to watch the marching bands, the clowns and the floats. It was a beautiful fall day and we grabbed breakfast at the Tic Toc Diner near Madison Square Garden before heading home.
2. My husband, as he has the past 19 years, prepared a wonderful Thanksgiving meal for me and our two sons. How is it a meal takes days to plan and prepare, and mere minutes to gobble? Thankfully, we have lots of leftovers.
3. The turkeys we eat are so heavy they can't fly. Just found that out. Just sayin'.
4. The next stop on our Thanksgiving adventure was suburban New York, where we had lunch at a restaurant with my parents, my sister and her two daughters. Sweet times. Still wondering why I ordered a turkey burger, though.
5. I am not ready for all the Christmas music on the radio, are you? And those incessant ads. Do you, like me, turn the radio off when the ads come on?
6. I am looking forward to attending an Advent retreat in a few weeks. I've never been on one. What are your Advent plans?
7. I am thankful for all the people who work on Thanksgiving so we don't have to. I am thinking about the mother I met at the parade with her four children. Her husband had a shift at the power plant. Ticket takers and conductors on the train, the folks at Dunkin' Donuts where I bought coffee, and the police officers who worked the parade so we could stay safe. Deepest thanks to all of them.
Not ready for the Christmas music yet, either. But I don't turn off the radio. KLOVE is relatively ad-free. I point that out to my 2 teens when they complain about ads on the stations they like.
ReplyDeleteI have an Advent retreat scheduled, but I think I am going to postpone it (yet again). Perhaps Lent will be the right time. Last year, I went to an Advent "Day of Recollection". It was wonderful.
Loads of people here in Wales have their decorations and lights all over their houses.
ReplyDelete@Diddleymaz: We will start to put lights up this weekend, as Advent starts. I like to keep the lights up through Candlemas!
ReplyDeleteI have eaten at the Tic Toc Diner. It was one of my son Lucas's favorite places when he lived on 6th Avenue at 37th St. We also watched the Thanksgiving Parade from his building two years ago. It was a dream come true for me.
ReplyDeleteI can't listen to Christmas music yet or think of Christmas decorations. Until the last couple of years, I played Christmas music after Thanksgiving. Now, though, I enjoy the Advent season and hold off on Christmas until the last week of Advent.
Maybe some lights, though...
Sandy: We have so much in common, including a Lucas!
ReplyDeleteYesterday, I set our dining room table for Advent, including of course the wreath. The tablecloth is white; I could not find purple or lavender in the stores. That is "out of season" supposedly.
I am also trying to declutter our front porch and downstairs to get ready for Christmas. Lots to do there as far as clearing out a year's worth of clutter.
We don't buy a tree until the very end and don't light it until Christmas Eve.
How cool to see the parade from your son's window! That's the way to do it.
I plan to order one online and use it next Advent.