LITTLE BOXES ON A HILLSIDE

Dallas, TX
(January 27 – January 30, 2012)

My very first trip of the year had me traveling to Dallas, Texas, and I couldn’t get the Frank Loesser song “Big D” from The Most Happy Fella out of my head the entire time I was there.

Surprisingly, this was my first trip to Dallas. Surprising because a number of Miriam’s family members live there, including her sister and her family, and Miriam has traveled there a number of times. I’ve just never had the availability to join her. 

I mean, come on! There is a nephew down there who had already celebrated his first birthday, and I had never met him! But the real reason for the trip was Miriam: she was performing with the Lyric Stage in a concert version of Kismet, and there was no way I was going to miss it!

Now, before any of my Dallas-based friends freak out because I didn’t bother mentioning I was in town, it was a whirlwind of a trip. Three and a half days of family reunions, babies, a performance, and an “X” in the middle of the road. We’ll get to that in a moment…For now, let’s back up a bit.

Right after the New Year celebrations, Miriam flew down to Dallas to start her rehearsals, and I locked myself in my office/rehearsal space, madly trying to learn the score to Damn Yankees! (so many musical references and we’re only a few paragraphs in…hmm…). I took a job as a musical director with the community theater company I’ve performed with for a number of years and was trying to get my piano skills back up to snuff, so Miriam wasn’t too sad to leave me behind—she knew I’d be married to my piano for a few months.

I finally got to meet Teddy!

So, at the end of January, I boarded a plane and made my way to Big D. The first stop was Miriam’s sister’s house in Plano to see the kids, Edie and Teddy, and drop off the bags. I was running on very little sleep since we were casting Damn Yankees! until late Thursday night and I was on a 6am flight Friday morning. But I rallied and had fun squeezing the kids and catching up with the family members who were already there. 

My first impression of Dallas was this: flat deserts, freeways, lots of construction and strip malls. Sorry, Dallas. At one point, both Miriam’s mom and I started singing, “Little boxes on a hillside, little boxes made of ticky-tacky, little boxes on a hillside and they all look just the same.” Granted, I was staying in the suburban area of Plano, so I tried to cut it a little slack. 

Throughout my first day, the rest of Miriam’s family arrived and there were many happy reunions. Miriam had fun driving me around and pointing out the places where she hung out during her stay, and, come early evening, we got back in the car with her dad, drove to Irving, and dropped her off at the theater for her show (we were seeing the Saturday performances). The rest of us went back to her sister’s house and relaxed for the night.

Saturday was all a-buzz with intrigue. Miriam had planted a secret seed amongst her family that we were throwing her sister a surprise birthday party that afternoon, since her birthday was the following week. There’s nothing more fun than celebrating your birthday with almost all of your family-- it’s a rare treat these days with all of us spread out across the country.

We had our morning booked with various secret shopping excursions, and her sister was getting so frustrated with us because none of us wanted to go with her and her kids to a toddler’s birthday party that morning. She couldn’t understand why we would all travel to see them and not want to hang out. We had a good chuckle over that one.

As soon as she and her husband left the house, we were off! The first stop was to Costco to pick up the magnificent, multi-layered chocolate cake we had decorated the day before, as well as some fun munchies, then we went to a party supply store and stocked up on all our partying needs. Our last stop was Dickey’s Barbecue Pit, my first experience with the famous Dallas barbecue. I was excited. Unfortunately, we were taking it to go so I couldn't get the full experience, but it was still fun to be in there, and you got free ice cream with your purchase. This girl does not turn down free ice cream!

Fried okra, mac n cheese, and baked beans. Yummy!

                   

 

We then hightailed it home to set up everything before Beth arrived. They got done a little early, so her husband, Daniel, feigned sickness and stopped off at a gas station and lounged around in the bathroom for a while, spritzing his face with water for effect. It totally freaked Beth out-- she called, asking if she should take Daniel to the hospital. Again, we had a good chuckle. Soon, all the family had arrived and we were in position for Beth’s grand entrance. Needless to say, she was very surprised, and we had a fabulous time. 

After the party, we cleaned up and got ourselves ready for Miriam’s show that evening. The performance took place at the Lyric Stage in Irving, TX, a grand theater that puts on fully-staged and concert versions of classic musicals with a much-coveted full orchestra. Broadway producers these days seem to skimp on the size of the orchestra in order to save money, so to hear a full-sized orchestra is quite magical. Broadway producers: pay attention! We love our orchestras!

I had never seen Kismet other than the retched MGM movie musical from 1955, and I was pleasantly surprised by how beautiful the show is! It was a concert version, which means there were no sets, limited costumes, and very limited staging, but the music completely made up for that. Lyric Stage is part community theater and part professional theater. A lot of the ensemble is comprised of Dallas residents who love performing, while the lead characters are paid professionals. Miriam and the rest of the ensemble spent most of the time seated on risers, standing to sing, unless they had smaller ensemble pieces that allowed them to interact on the stage with the other characters. The music was glorious, and, again, the orchestra was fabulous! The leads had beautiful voices, and I was very impressed with all the ensemble singing. To be honest, the dancing was abhorrent-- that was the community theater aspect of it, I guess-- but on the whole it was a great production. 

Once the show was finished, Miriam and I waved good-bye to her family and friends and headed over to the producer’s home for a cast party. She introduced me to a number of her cast mates and I got in a long conversation with the music director; I told him about my new venture as a music director, and we chatted for a while on the beauty of community theater. People who do community theater do it for the fun of it, so their hearts are always in it. Professional actors do it for their jobs, so sometimes they forget the real reason they started doing theater in the first place. It’s so true. Community theater can be a really beautiful thing-- lots of heart!

Sunday morning turned out to be the only really free time Miriam and I would have to go see Dallas, so we woke up early and headed out to find the most famous spot in all of Dallas: where President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. It was a bit of a challenge to find, since we were lacking a GPS and the freeway exits we were told to use were all shut down for construction purposes (there was construction everywhere on the highways and freeways!), but eventually we made our way to downtown Dallas. 

A map of historical downtown Dallas

Our first stop was what some have deemed Founder’s Plaza, home to the replica of Dallas founder John Neely Bryan’s original log cabin. We were caught off guard by a homeless man sleeping on a wooden bench outside the log cabin. Apparently, he lost his key...  

Dealey Plaza and the library

Dealey Plaza

Next to this plaza is the Kennedy Memorial Plaza, which features an “open tomb” memorial, a large, open, rectangular, concrete fixture with no roof and only a slab of granite with John F. Kennedy’s name carved into it. It is said to represent the openness of JFK’s spirit.

The Old Red Museum

     

The grassy knoll

The "X" and the library

Then we took a short walk to Dealey Plaza, visited the various monuments, grabbed a cup of coffee at the memorial museum gift shop and cafe and then found the grassy knoll, made the obligatory grassy knoll jokes, and stood by the “X” in the middle of the road that marks the approximate location of where JFK was shot. There isn’t much there, but it’s still pretty powerful. Whilst standing by the “X” (when the traffic wasn’t coming by, of course) we glanced up to the Texas School Book Depository where Lee Harvey Oswald allegedly fired the weapon. I couldn’t help but replay the news footage in my head of the shooting. Pretty intense.

Once finished, it was time to try to find our way back to Plano, since we realized the return driving instructions had not been printed out for us. Thinking we would just go back the way we came, we headed out and started driving and driving...and driving. Finally, we conceded that we must be lost, since all civilization was slowly disappearing. We called Howard, one of Miriam’s relatives who has lived in Dallas for decades, and he was able to set us straight. Whew!

We made it home to have some quality time with the family before it was time to drop a number of them off at the airports. Miriam’s cousin was first, since she was leaving out of DFW airport, and then we had some time before we had to drop off her mother and brother, so we went in search of an easy place to eat dinner with our large clan. We finally settled on a Mexican place called Fuzzy's Taco Shop since it was the only eatery by the Love Field airport. None of us could get past the idea of an actual fuzzy taco and we totally expected it to be a gross place to eat, but it ended up being excellent and quite affordable!

The few of us remaining then headed back to Beth and Daniel’s house for one more relaxing night with them. The next day we packed up our things, grabbed coffee at the local Barnes & Noble where I was able to stalk a music manager I’ve spoken with a number of times on the phone, and then Miriam and her dad drove me to the airport. 

Back to reality for me, and time to practice that piano before rehearsals start! 

2011: A YEAR TO REMEMBER

As the end of 2011 drew near, I became very reflective on everything that had transpired in that one year alone. Part of the reason for the reflection was the unexpected passing of a young friend of mine right after Christmas.

I met him in February of 2011, while we were rehearsing a show together. We spent a few months together and became good friends, having amusing email banter in the months that followed our show. His passing was tragic to those who knew him, but he was such a bright light in the universe that we were all so much better for having known him. I'm thankful for the year 2011 for that very reason. I knew him and lost him all in the same year, but I'm thankful I had him in my life, even for only a brief moment.

That's what made me so reflective come New Year's Eve. As my friends were posting on their various Facebook accounts how much they hated 2011 and couldn't wait for it to be over, I sat back and thought about everything that had transpired that year.

We started the year with one of the biggest blizzards New York City had seen in years. It, literally, shut down the city. A girl who never gets snow-days because she lives in the city got three housebound days. It was frustrating and lovely at the same time. There's something to be said about sharing in an experience with a large group of people like that.

Later that month, as we were putting the final touches on our trip to Egypt, the Egyptians started rioting, our trip was put on hold, and we feared we wouldn't be able to travel there at all. Cut to May, when we not only traveled to Egypt, we experienced an Egypt that few tourists get to experience: an Egypt with very few tourists to crowd our pictures.

In February I was cast as a supporting character in a community theater production of The Pajama Game, where I met many new friends and got to exercise my acting skills, which was so much fun. We even had a the honor of having the artist Prudence Whittlesey come to one of our shows and paint pictures of us in action. I never thought I'd own a piece of artwork of my likeness!

Other highlights of my year include: meeting my newest nephew for the first time, biking over a few of the bridges in New York City, seeing marriage equality reach New York and celebrating with my fellow New Yorkers over that fact, hand-feeding giraffes, scuba diving for the first time while vacationing in Puerto Rico, experiencing my first hurricane, waiting in line with the other Harry Potter nutters for the midnight showing of the final movie and re-enacting every character's poster in the subway station at three o'clock in the morning after said movie with my fellow HP-fan and former roommate, softball season and being able to watch Miriam play (she's a really amazing player), performing Candide with the non-profit opera company coópera, and celebrating the holidays with family for the first time in years. I saw every musical on Broadway except two. I won coveted lottery tickets to the impossible-to-get-tickets show Book of Mormon and got to hang out backstage and have drinks with the cast at a nearby bar because Miriam plays on their softball team. I accepted the job of music director for my community theater's spring production of Damn Yankees, my first music directorship of a full-fledged musical, and I've become re-acquainted with my piano as a result.

I could focus on the negative things that happened to me, which there were many, or I can focus on the amazing things that happened. Joey came into my life. He may be gone, but he's still there. A glass half full. That's how I like to look at things. 2011 was a year to remember for many reasons. And I plan on remembering it.

As the midnight hour approached I decided to record myself singing "Auld Lang Syne" and put together a slideshow of some of my most memorable moments of the year. Enjoy, and Happy (Belated) New Year!

The slideshow: The blizzard that started the new year, 

Playing Mae in Pajama Game, 

Trip to Egypt (in front of the Pyramids and along the Nile at sunset), 

Saying goodbye to Zoe and Jadyn when they moved to New Orleans, 

Biking across the Brooklyn Bridge, 

Marriage equality in NY, 

Feeding giraffes at Six Flags, 

Trip to Puerto Rico (Old San Juan, snorkeling, and Playa Flamenco on Culebra), 

The final Harry Potter movie, 

Miriam playing softball with the Book of Mormon team, 

Relaxing in the countryside of upstate NY, 

Meeting my newest nephew, 

Roasting marshmallows during Hurricane Irene, 

Being at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, 

Celebrating my friend Steph's 30th birthday, 

Getting our Christmakkuh tree, 

Celebrating the holidays at Rockefeller Center, 

Saying goodbye to the beautiful spirit of Joey Wilgenbusch, 

Sunrise on Culebra

CHRISTMAS IN NEW YORK

New York, NY

(December, 2011)

No matter your religious affiliation, Christmas time in New York City is pretty spectacular. It’s one of my favorite times to be a resident of the Big Apple. It’s a time to celebrate your friends, your family, and the year you’ve shared together. It’s a time of hot cocoa and strings of bright, shining lights, of festive colors decorating every accessible pole, post, and window, of bundling up in hats and scarves and browsing the pop-up holiday markets, of cheerful and contagious carols being sung everywhere you turn, and of contemplative evenings with the ones you love.

Now, if you’re a Grinch or Ebenezer Scrooge type, this would sound absolutely appalling, but for me, it’s my favorite time of year, and the 1100 holiday songs on my iPod will prove it. 

The holiday season has it’s official kick-off at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade when Santa and Mrs. Claus pull in. At that point I feel it’s free reign to listen to the holiday music  and put up the decorations.

I don’t get to travel home for the holidays very often these days, as it’s usually very expensive and I can’t get time off from work before December 24th, so I’ve started my own traditions. This year, Miriam’s parents came in for the holiday, so I got to share my traditions with them.

Tradition #1: Sending out our annual holiday letter (or novella...as I always find a LOT to write about) and picture montage. With so many friends and family members far away, it’s always nice to reach out and share our year with them all.

"And I know all I need along is a path and a pal and a song, so I'm singing and I'm palling with you." - Shrek, the Musical

Tradition #2: Baking lots and lots of holiday goodness. I love to bake, and I love to share it with people who appreciate it. I’ve found plenty of people near and far who definitely appreciate it!

Tradition #3: Visiting the outdoor ice skating rinks, and, if I’m brave, actually going for a skate. In Manhattan, there are three very popular skating rinks: Rockefeller Center, Wollman Rink in Central Park, and Bryant Park. Of the three, Bryant Park is my favorite. Rockefeller Center is pretty expensive and very popular, so you are restricted on how long you can skate, while the entire tourist population of New York City stands above you and watches as you fall on your butt. Wollman Rink is a beautiful location, but there is a cost to skate there, as well, and the two separate times I attempted to go skating there, it was closed for a private event.

The reason I like Bryant Park so much is because it’s a central location (a couple blocks east of Times Square), it’s free to skate, and you can skate for as long as you want, although they do have periodic ice cleanings where everyone vacates the ice so the zamboni machine can come in, but you can simply wait off to the side. If you have your own skates, awesome. If you don’t, you can rent them.

Last year, I was on skates for the first time since childhood. It was an interesting and slightly frightening experience, but I survived! All I could think about was falling tragically and breaking something, so I probably didn’t look very graceful, but I had fun, nonetheless. Technically, you can’t have a camera on the ice, but we were able to sneak in a couple pictures.

This year, with Miriam’s parents, we stopped by the rink and pretended to skate on Christmas Eve. It was a pretty happening spot to be!

Ice skating last year

Miriam and her mom pretending to skate

Tradition #4: Visiting the holiday pop-up markets. There are various holiday markets throughout the city but my favorites are at Union Square and Bryant Park (but if you want to stay warm, head to the Grand Central holiday market, as those lucky vendors get to set up indoors). Vendors from all over come in for the month of December, selling almost anything you can think of out of their stalls, from spices to handmade jewelry,  from toasty warm food items to toasty, fun winter hats, from hand-carved woodwork to souvenirs from Asia, Africa, and Europe. The markets are fascinating and fun places to visit. In the past I’ve purchased and/or received as gifts handmade scarves and hats, necklaces of real leaves dipped in gold, silver, or copper, a meditation ring containing elephants on parade, handcrafted items from Africa, lovely bath salt scrubs, ornaments, and plenty of food consumed as I browsed. 

I heard someone in passing saying that the market in Union Square feels very similar to the markets in Germany. I can’t wait to compare that myself some day!

Tradition #5: Seeing all the decorated store windows. All the big department stores try to outdo each other during the holidays on getting the most creative and eye-popping store windows. You’ve got Bloomingdales, Bergdorff Goodman, Saks Fifth Avenue, Lord & Taylor, and the quintessential windows: Macy’s. I’m sure there are many more, but those are the ones I always try to see.

A little tip we figured out this year: If you want to see the windows with as few people as possible, try to go in the morning, specifically Christmas Eve morning. We ventured out to do last minute sight-seeing and shopping on Christmas Eve, and there was nary a soul out and about. Even the inside of Macy’s was calm!

Miriam's mom, Doris, at the Lord & Taylor windows

This year, we managed to see the windows of Saks, Lord & Taylor, and Macy’s. The Saks Fifth Avenue windows looked really cool from across the street, but up close, they left much to be desired. But Lord & Taylor’s and Macy’s windows were really fun. I must admit, though, that I was a little surprised at the windows on Macy’s 34th Street side. Their main windows are along 7th Avenue and change every year. The 34th Street side has always seemed to be images of A Miracle on 34th Street, but this year they decided to change it to Yes, Virginia, using a lot of the stuff from last year’s main windows.

The beautiful puppets in Macy's windows

The interactive portion of the window display-- make your own digital ornament

Avenue of the Americas decorations

Tradition #6: Visiting Rockefeller Center. Now, when I say Rockefeller Center, I’m including Radio City Music Hall. I usually start at Radio City Music Hall and take in all the fun decorations along Avenue of the Americas before culminating at the Rock Center Christmas tree. For me, I NEED to visit the tree by Christmas Eve. Earlier in December I was able to stop by there during the day, but, seriously, there is nothing like seeing the tree at night all lit up. I like to start out where the Today Show films, off to the side of the tree, and then I work my way over to 5th Avenue so I can see the tree with all the beautiful angels leading up to it (Saks Fifth Avenue is directly across the street). After I’ve taken a few pictures at the very beginning of the angels, I walk down a ways were there’s a great open spot amidst the angels where you can get a closer shot of the tree. Then it’s a must to head all the way down, to see the statue of the Titan Prometheus under the tree and overlooking the skating rink.

It really is a beautiful sight to behold, but be warned, it does get very crowded unless you go very late at night. And, if you’re standing at the 5th Avenue spot by the angels you may just catch the sound and light show that happens along the Saks building.

The tree from the side view

This year, we had one of the warmest Decembers in history, so we had a good time going out and doing all the sight-seeing. It was nice to have my extended family in town (Miriam’s folks) to celebrate with us.

Miriam and her parents in Times Square

As I prepare to shut off the Christmas lights for the season and pack everything up again until next year, I’m thankful for all the friends and family who brought the holiday season to life for me.

Here’s hoping you and yours had a magical holiday season!

Merry Christmahanukwanzikah!

NOTHING SAYS THANKSGIVING LIKE GIANT BALLOONS

New York, NY
Thanksgiving, November 24, 2011

When I was a little girl, I used to love getting up on Thanksgiving morning to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. It was amazing to see all the giant balloons floating above the streets. Thanksgiving marks the day in the US when we give thanks for all the original settlers were able to accomplish, for the peace they supposedly formed with the native Indians, and the meal they shared with said Indians. The Thanksgiving parade officially marks the beginning of the holiday season, and what kid doesn’t look forward to that every year??

When I moved to New York City, I was always tempted to go to the parade, but the idea of getting up really early to cram myself in with all the other souls along the street barricades and stand for hours waiting for the parade just didn’t seem worth it to me.

Luckily for me, these days I’ve got a job with great perks! Last year my mom came in for the holiday, and my boss was able to score a spot along the parade route for the two of us from the vendors of the holiday movie Yes, Virginia. Their office building was right along the parade route and allowed us the perfect balloon viewing, as it was seven flights up. The balloons literally floated right by the windows. It was lovely because we were inside, warm, able to watch the performances being broadcasted from Herald Square, and had food, drinks, and a convenient bathroom, yet I still wished I could experience it from the ground level.

Cut to: Thanksgiving of 2011.

This year, the vendors of the newest Smurf movie offered our office tickets to sit in the grandstands at the beginning of the parade. Awesome! (The grandstands are bleacher seats along Central Park for the first few blocks of the parade.) I was able to get two tickets, which Miriam was very excited about. We still had to get up pretty early, but we were going to have seats! No need to cram ourselves in like sardines.

We soon discovered we had something else to be excited about—the New Orleans dance troupe, 610 Stompers, were going to be marching in the parade! In case I haven’t mentioned this before, Miriam was born and raised in New Orleans, so we get pretty excited whenever we see anything NOLA-related (NOLA = New Orleans, LA). The 610 Stompers are a goofball group of men who decided to challenge the fact that all dance troupes that march in the various Mardi Gras parades always seem to be pretty, young girls. These guys dress in cut-off, acid-washed jean shorts, sweatbands, red, shiny jackets, and moustaches. They are NOT the world’s greatest dancers, which is exactly what they are going for. They are pretty hilarious. We couldn’t wait to see them live.

But let’s back track a little. One of my favorite new traditions is to go up to the Natural History Museum on the Upper West Side the day before Thanksgiving, when they start blowing up the balloons. The balloons are on the streets by the museum and Central park. You can get right up close to them, and it’s really neat to watch the process. They start allowing viewers in around 3pm until late evening. I recommend going as early as possible, as it gets REALLY crowded later in the day. I wasn’t able to go this year, but here are pictures from the year before.

Kung Fu Panda

A cop directing pedestrian traffic into the viewing area

Horton the Elephant, my favorite balloon-- retired after last year.

On the subway with our tickets!

On Thanksgiving Day, we awoke at 4:30am, discovered it was going to be a pleasantly mild day, weather-wise, grabbed Spuddy Buddy, our travel-ready couch potato, and hopped on the subway to the Upper West Side.  The tickets indicated that the seating would open at 7am, so we were aiming to get there a little before that. The moment we stepped off the train a throng of people bombarded us. Early risers were already sardined on the non-bleacher side of the street. It was 6:30am and the parade wasn’t starting until 9am! These people were going to be squished together for quite some time.

We were finally able to squeeze ourselves out of the crowd and got in the grandstand ticketholder line. The grandstands opened up fifteen minutes later, and off we went! As we were being ushered down the street, we saw friends of ours already seated—they were chaperoning their son’s class, who had all gotten tickets to the parade. We kept moving and, luckily, scored front row seats! Very exciting. The one problem was that we sat right over a subway vent, so every time a train went by below us, cold air blew up through the vent, right up Miriam’s pant leg. Brrrr!

From our front row seats.

The grandstands

 We got comfortable, since we had about two hours before the parade actually started, and watched as the clowns arrived to entertain the crowds. There were 800 clowns total, so if you are the type to be freaked out by clowns, steer clear of this parade. They started handing out balloons to all the kids, much to my displeasure—I have a decades-old fear of balloons—more specifically, the popping of said balloons. It stems from my childhood and having one explode in my face as I blew it up. But Miriam and, more importantly, Spuddy Buddy, love balloons, so they had a good time. Spuddy Buddy even got to meet a clown! He was very excited.

Surrounded by balloons...

Spuddy Buddy and his new clown friend

The crowd got revved up when the marching band opening the parade started lining up right in front of us. The band members entertained us by running up and down the street, getting us to do the wave and doing call-and-response cheers.

Then the parade got moving. The balloons floating above us were larger than life! It was really cool. My one disappointment was that they retired Horton the Elephant, so he wasn’t flying this year.

The start of the parade

Sonic the Hedgehog

Miriam, Spuddy Buddy, and Spongebob Squarepants

Because the weather was decent, the celebrities were all actually riding on their floats, which was cool. When the weather is bad, the celebrities tend to wait it out closer to Herald Square and jump on before their float is televised. Some of this year’s entertainers included Avril Lavigne, Neil Diamond, Straight No Chaser, the guys of Oceanspray Cranberries, the cast of Sesame Street (we got a tad giddy over that), American Idol winner, Scotty McCreery, and Mary J. Blige.

The cast of Sesame Street

We even had a couple celebrities hang out in front of our bleacher section before heading down to do interviews—Al Roker, who conducted the interviews, was followed by two of the Grimm cast members and 30 Rock’s Jane Krakowski. That was fun.

Al Roker with the guys from Grimm

Then it was time for the 610 Stompers! We made a sign and wore our New Orleans Saints (American football team) Santa hats in order to get their attention, and it worked! They came running by, screaming the Saints’ signature cheer, “Who Dat!” and slapping us five before busting out their stellar dance moves. Here’s the video from the NBC telecast of the parade at Herald Square. 

After the 610 Stompers, we settled down to enjoy the rest of the parade, getting doused with confetti, watching the other colorful balloons floating by, and taking advantage of our awesome spot for great picture opportunities. Spuddy Buddy even got to meet the big balloon Clumsy Smurf. He was nervous but handled it like a trooper.

Mobile Azaela Trail Maids curtseying

Santa!

Santa finally came sailing by on his float, marking the end of the parade and the beginning of the holiday season. We all cheered and waved and then started making our way out of the grandstands. I was able to sneak in behind the parade and get my picture with it, which was fun. 

Then we started making our way to the train station with all the other revelers. When we saw the amount of people heading to the trains, we decided we’d wait a bit. There was no way we’d be able to squeeze ourselves onto a train with all those other people. We opted to find a place to grab a bite to eat—somewhere warm with a bathroom. The lines for the bathrooms at the various Starbucks we passed were, literally, out the front doors, so we didn’t even try there. The difficulty was finding a place actually open on Thanksgiving Day—not too easy when it’s a national holiday where most businesses are closed.

We ended up finding a cute little restaurant off Broadway called Café Luxembourg. Because it wasn’t on the main drag, it wasn’t overly crowded. The food was yummy (I had Eggs Benedict), and the place was toasty warm. We took our time eating and then made our way to the now empty subway.

Once we got home we cooked up a small Thanksgiving dinner, enjoyed the Packer/Lion football game on TV, and then prepared for the midnight madness of Black Friday shopping…We don’t need to go into that…Let’s just say we probably won’t be doing that anymore.

I really must say that seeing the parade from the ground level is much cooler than being inside a building, even with the colder temperature and the lack of bathrooms. Being on the street allowed us to be a part of the excitement. We could hear all the marching bands, see all the fun details of the floats, and could scream and cheer along with our thousands of neighbors. It was a very neat experience, and hopefully, I’ll be able to share the experience with my own kids one day.

Happy Holidays!