A Thanksgiving Holiday Childhood Memory
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day in the United States and the traditional kickoff of the holiday season. What makes the holiday season most special are the traditions we create and the memories we share; in that way, we make them uniquely our own.
My maternal grandparents lived in Brooklyn, New York, when I was a child, and I spent holiday vacations with them. There is something magical about New York City during the holidays—the festive atmosphere, the street decorations, and stores transformed into winter wonderlands. Thanksgiving week was always my favorite. The day before Thanksgiving, my grandfather and I ice-skated at Rockefeller Center, and afterward, we snuggled together under a wool blanket as a horse-drawn buggy gave us a private tour of Central Park.
Thanksgiving morning, my grandfather and I left home before dawn to get the best spot at Macy’s Herald Square at 34th Street and 7th Avenue to watch the parade. Sitting on my grandfather’s shoulders, I had a birds-eye-view of the parade, but still never knew where to look first. I loved the huge balloon floats and the marching bands, but the best part of all was when the world-famous high-kicking Rockettes dance troupe performed several of their precision-perfect routines.
The day after Thanksgiving was my favorite part of the holiday week. My grandmother and I attended the opening holiday extravaganza at Radio City Music Hall, where we were treated to a first-run full-length Disney film, and then, the Rockettes performed an unforgettable live show, followed by lunch at the automat, where I could choose whatever I wanted to eat, drop the coins in the slots, and voila! My choices popped out of the open glass doors.
There were no advanced ticket sales for the Radio City holiday show- first-come, first-served. We’d take the subway into Manhattan and arrive in midtown by seven a.m. and take our place in the ticket line for the holiday extravaganza that stretched two miles from Central Park to Radio City on Sixth Avenue and Forty-ninth Street. One particularly cold and snowy post-Thanksgiving Day, the weather turned nastier with no place to shelter from the snow that the fierce wind blew sideways into our faces, and Nana thought it best we go home. I somehow convinced her that we could tough it out. And I was so glad we did. When we finally got our tickets and entered the theater, the usher gave us our programs and seated us in the center section, seven rows from the stage. We were seated so close it was like being in the movie and dancing on stage with the Rockettes.
If you’re the curious sort like me, you might be interested in how the Thanksgiving Day celebration came to be. Click the link and find out: https://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving/history-of-thanksgiving
Whichever way you celebrate the holiday, may your traditions bring you and yours the joy that comes with the sense of belonging that binds us humans together.
What lovely memories. Happy Thanksgiving, Susie!