Alright, boys and girls, I've got a surprise for you today. Partly because I'm lazy, partly because I caved, here's a guest post from the GF! If you are reading this and you know who I am, then you know who she is, and you can probably guess what this is going to be about. (That is not a reason to pass up this blog post however!) So without further ado, here is it, in the spirit of believing, and in the spirit of Christmas, (sorry Jewish friends), Dino Diva's guest blogging debut:
Those of you who know us know that we had an awesome trip to NYC this weekend. The entire trip was planned because of one reason: the Macy’s Birthday (a.k.a Thanksgiving Day) Parade.
Let me fill you in on the back-story…I grew up as an only child for most of my life. My mother raised me as a single mom (the best ever!) and we lived with my maternal grandparents for the first 7 or so years of my life. I am my mother’s only child and my grandparent’s first grandchild (for all three sets of grandparents). Saying that I was (am) spoiled would be an understatement. I needed/wanted/loved attention all the time and being an only child I got a lot of it. But when I couldn’t have everyone’s attention I could be a bit difficult to deal with. So Thanksgiving mornings at my grandparent’s house were hectic as my mom and grandma cooked and prepared for all my aunts and uncles to come over and celebrate. What to do with a little girl who wants to be involved with everything but really just gets in the way? Well being that my birthday is always right around Thanksgiving they decided they would plop me down in front of the TV and put the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV for me to watch. Only they didn’t call it the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. They called it my Birthday Parade. And I was naïve and spoiled enough to really believe that there was a parade on TV for my birthday. Eventually I learned to read and figured out that the parade was actually for Thanksgiving, but my family continued to call it the birthday parade and I always watch it on TV every year. In our house the parade was always followed with Thanksgiving dinner, and then once everyone entered a turkey and stuffing coma we would sit and watch It’s a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street. Its tradition and I love traditions, especially ones like this that give you the warm fuzzy feeling on the inside.
So as much as I have loved watching my birthday parade on TV I have dreamed of being there and watching the parade. And this year my dream came true. I have been bugging this blog’s author to take me to the parade this year because this time, in 2008, my birthday fell on Thanksgiving Day, and therefore, on the day of parade. Since we just live a few hours away, I could not think of a single reason why we should not go. So we have been planning for months and this past we actually watched the parade, street-side, up close and personal.
I really have always wanted to go the Macy’s parade and I had big dreams about this parade. Before we went everyone was trying to prepare me (in a nice way) for what the parade would really be like. I had hyped it up a lot and had high expectations. And last Thursday at 9am all my expectations were blown away by the most spectacular and amazing day of my life. I have never been so happy and I don’t think I ever will be again. We stood at 62nd St and Central Park West on a clear, sunny 40 degree day with 2.5 million people and watched the best parade I have ever seen. Every float looked perfect. Every balloon soared graciously through the sky. Every clown waved and threw confetti on us. There were even people dressed as birthday cake and presents in the parade that came over and sang happy birthday to me. It was perfect. I expected at any minute to see Maureen O’Hara (as Doris Walker) strolling alongside of the parade. Everything I had seen in movies and on TV was coming true. I felt like I was in a movie.
And it was all because I believed.
The part of me that is still a child will always think of the Macy’s parade as my Birthday Parade. I will always watch it and be so excited to see the balloons and the clowns. And it’s because I believe in the magic of that parade.
This holiday season, Believe! Believe in a parade, believe in Santa Claus, believe in true love, believe in change, believe in hope, believe in the spirit of Christmas. Just believe.
To help you get in the believing spirit, watch some of my favorite movies that always fill me with warm fuzzies and holiday delight: Miracle on 34th Street
It’s a Wonderful Life
The Bells of St. Mary’s
The Santa Clause
The Shop Around the Corner
Love Actually
Holiday Inn
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
Babes in Toyland (the 1961 Annette Funicello version)
White Christmas
Scrooged
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
XOXO
DinoDiva, aka the GF
1 comment:
I was there, and it was hard not to be in the spirit while standing street-side to the biggest pro-Christmas event in the country. I saw Kermit the Frog sing, and found myself really excited to have seen Kermit in real life, the way I would have been if I'd spotted Christian Bale walking down the street.
The parade had a profound effect, as did walking through Macy's the next day, and it made me really happy to have been a part of it all.
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