Thanksgiving, a member’s view.

Thanksgiving is a day for family and friends.  Enjoying a good meal that mom or grandma starts cooking on Monday.  We all fully expect lasagna, or baked ziti or both.  My mom also made mini meatball chicken soup.  She bought a super size restaurant soup pot that you would have to use smaller pots to fill up and seemed to take forever to heat up and simmered for a full day.  She had appetizers galore and some specialties that we only saw once a year.   I looked forward to “cardune” or cardone. a cousin to the artichoke.  breaded and fried.  Loved that.

I looked forward to having that as well as all the other goodies that mom made when we returned from the Macy’s Parade.  The first time I went was as a teen with 3 of my friends.  We lucked out and scored 3 tickets to the Macy’s Grandstand on 34th street, (I actually found them on the street). You actually had to walk through the store to get there.  What a thrill to be sitting there like celebrities.  As we got older and drove into the city, we found little tricks for a fun time.  Stay away from 34th street.  Go uptown.  Plenty of parking up there.  Always find a vantage point up there, where the floats and bands start their march down Broadway.  Much less crowded up there.  Then once Santa Claus passes by, make a bee line to the car and you can beat all the traffic and be home before it ends on television.

Another great attraction for the parade actually is the night before.  It is watching all the balloons being inflated.  We all just think they appear that morning just before they float down Broadway but it takes hours overnight to inflate them to their full size.

We should all remember what Thanksgiving means.  Remember all who came before and who made it possible for what we have today.

S. D’Amato

Everyone, Enjoy your Thanksgiving.  

For those working on Thanksgiving, in “our profession”, We salute you, and your families salute you.
Hopefully they’ll save you a drumstick and some candied sweet potatoes!