My Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade experience

Note: I had the chance to march in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade yesterday, as an employee's guest. Last night, I e-mailed some people about the experience, and I figured why not share the gist of the e-mail with my faithful blog readers. (You know who you are!). So, here it is:

OK...I'm going to try to type this without making any type-o's, or falling asleep at the keyboard.

Woke up Thursday at 2 a.m. (some nights I'm just crawling into bed at that time). Shuffled into the kitchen, fed the dog and walked her (she might have been a little confused about the time, but didn't mind the food). Came home, got ready and we were out the door by 3;40 a.m. to catch the bus at the Bridgewater Commons for the parade.

Beautiful weather! But we dressed as if we were prepared for a blizzard (picture the "A Christmas Story" scene...no, not the "you'll shoot your eye out, kid!"scene...but the one where the kid is so overdressed he exclaims, "I can't put my arms down! I can't put my arms down!" That's what I felt like.

Anyway, got our costumes (we were soldiers) and changed into them. Red pants, heavy green jackets, and HUGE--and tight for my fat head--hats. Wearing the hat reminded me of that "I Love Lucy" episode, where she's wearing a huge headdress and trying to walk down a set of stairs. We also had large candy canes to carry (but, unfortunately, they weren't real.)

Started out kind of sedately, just waving to the crowd and yelling, "Happy Thanksgiving" and "Merry Christmas" (since we were with the Santa float). I'm surprised I'm not hoarse this morning.

But once we got going, we started stepping out and greeting people in the crowd, which was fun. I'm actually a little shy, so this took some mustering. But, once I got going, there was no stopping me.

Got to see Wynonna. I'm not really a big fan of country music (unless "Achy Breaky Heart" counts), but, hey, a celeb's a celeb.

After the parade, went right back to the New Yorker Hotel, where we changed out of our outfits, then walked over to catch our bus back to the Commons.

Got home, and apparently no one saw us on TV! I know we passed some cameras, so I checked out the tape I had plopped into the VCR before I left. (Another reason I got up so early!). And we were actually on ... for about a second...and a half! But, hey, a second and a half is a second and a half.

All in all, a great time!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!