Macy's Thanksgiing Day Parade

So its on. Josh went an blogged all over the place about it and now I'm expected to come up with something interesting... I'd promised this anyway, but people on this blog are used to me not keeping my promises.

So here goes, part 2 of my Thanksgiving. I'll start with an itinerary and then get into all the nitty-gritty.

The lead up to parade is always the most irritating. Nowadays we don't lay hand on anything until at earliest 12:30 am Thanksgiving day. There was a time that involved push out but I'll tell you about that some other time. This story doesn't need that.

Regardless, official meet is 6:00 pm, wed. before Thanksgiving at Veselka restaurant 2nd ave. and 9th. I ussualy meet Leighton around 5:45 at his place to drop off clean clothes.

We eat dinner. This is a ritual. This is the forewarning for any new guys. This is talking about the weather when it actually is significant. This is contemplating what we are in for. This is, above all, the last good meal you will see for 24hrs.

'We' is the New York City Crew. Most people working Macy's are from NJ, and we are the minority. We have oft wondered why we can' just call in and then meet everyone on Central Park West, but seeing as we've made large strides in the past years it is better not to push our luck.

7:15 We finish dinner and pay. Coffee at the Starbucks across the street is in order. We also grab some energy bars from the deli. I don't drink Starbucks except once a year.... tradition trumps principle - all good stategists should remember this.

7:30ish - PATH train to Hoboken.

7:45ish - Cab to Macy's Shop.

8:00 - half hour wait in th Shop for the Bus.

8:30 - Bus to Macy's Warehouse.

9:00 - Macy's Warehouse.

11:00 - Meeting. This is always fun. The heads of Macy's gather us all around and we recognize people who have been doing this insanity for many years, and acknowledge what we are up against, and who our crew heads are. This year, our normal crew head was moved up in life and our new crew head is inheriting our truculent bunch.
See if you can follow the math hear. As I remember the speech...

"Last year we had 8 people per crew and were finished by 6:30 am, so we think we are safe having 7 people per crew and finishing by 8 am."
"Buses leave at 8 am. You do not want to get left on Central Park West. Please be on your Bus by 8am so we can all get down to tear down together."
"Last year we had 26 large floats ***some big baloon and some intermediate baloons***. This year we have 30 floats ***some big balloons and some intermediate balloons***"

There was a lot more said than that, but did you catch that. Let me re-phrase it in Sam-speak. "We have 4 more floats, 7 or 8 less people, and somebody thought we finished early last year - not the case. And oh yeah, your crew head has changed."

As we boarded the buses for ew York the rain was starting... I love parade...

more to come....

I hurt. My knees are a mass of bruises, my right elbow aches, I have at least three bruises on various parts of my head, all my finger joints ache and have various scrapes, I have windburn on my cheeks and chapped lips. Why do I do this every year?

I realized this parade (My 9th!) that I've never really written about parade, I just tel stories to my friends about what new crazy stuff happened this year. I'm guessing this will be part one of a two part post because I doubt at the moment I will have the wherewithal to follow this through immediately. I'm tired and the Friday after Thanksgiving is my one dedicated day off. I don't work the Friday after Thanksgiving.

This post will be overly-dramatic. Parade is a series of exaggerations in life and story-telling, so any post about it really couldn't not be overly dramatic. That is part of the mystique of parade. Part of what does keep me coming back to work it. Its something I grew up with, huddled about the television with my sister every thanksgiving I can remember growing up. It was my first 'famous' experience in New York City. In a single night, Parade went from being this thing that you saw people doing on television - to a real life event put together by friends of mine, and me. That carries with it a certain weight. This is one thing I know people around the country tune in to, and many can identify with certain parts of it - who doesn't love Snoopy?

On top of all that, Thanksgiving holds a special place for me in that after Parade I'm welcomed into some dear friends' home. Every year this gets harder for me. This people have known me for close to a decade, and in that time they've seen me through a lot. To repeatedly spend a holiday with them brings us closer all. I may not see them for over a year afterwards, but we all seem to know that in a very real way spending this time together makes us a quirky sort of family - with all the burdens and jys that bears.

This is the kind of drivel you get out of me when you send me through the wringer and then put me to sleep for over 12 hours.

I haven't even gotten to what I do for the parade yet. And I have to go for the time. Look for installment two of this post - complete with Giant Rhinocersoses, Spaceships, Turkey flinging, and more. To be continued...