photo by m.f.
We always said when we have kids we will bring them to the Macy's Day parade. Or at least to see the balloons get blown up the night before, a fun evening of hot chocolate and walking dark New York streets. I prefer the latter, as it allows for Thanksgiving Day slumber the slothful way it should begin.
So...as you can imagine we have done neither with our son. And that's a bummer. There is no event that can replace it. Not even a cold Turkey Trot in the suburbs.
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Updated: The Ghosts of Thanksgiving Past:
1999 I am pretty sure this began the tradition of Mike making all the food and me napping, reading magazines and filing my nails. He recalls us going to The Wheelers (maybe just for dessert?) that night and we met their parents. The Wheelers were our only friends in new york for a long, long time. We have spent more holidays with them than we have our familes in the past 7 years. We *heart* The Wheelers for life!
2000 This was the year we were in the first Brooklyn apartment and Mike's friend was visiting with her new husband from out of state. I had never met either of them. First impressions have never gone more wrong. The day they were arriving our ceiling collapsed in the kitchen. The 40 Mexicans living above us wouldn't let anyone in to fix their broken pipe- the root of the problem. We ate turkey and tried to pretend there wasn't black plastic hanging above our heads. Nothing says Welcome to New York like a construction scene in the middle of the apartment. Oh yes, yes it's also true my rent is 5 times the amount of your mortgage for your 4 bedroom house, but I bet you don't have the luxury of a moon roof in your kitchen. Also, don't forget the charm of the slanted floors, boards under the fridge to keep it straight, and the toilet that gets in the way when you open the bathroom door. We stayed there way too long. But the memories make it worth it.
2001 This was a year we gathered with other families in the Robinson's apartment in Brooklyn on 4th Avenue next to the fire station. This one goes down in the books as THE BEST FOOD we will ever have at Thanksgiving. Each family brought a dish of their favorite masterpiece, so it was an amazing combination of perfected dishes. Nothing was gross. Nothing was cold. The children behaved, until the grown-up children got out the XBOXes. Then there were tears and tired babies and bold wives yanking their husbands by the ear. Now we are all scattered across the states, I wonder if any of us will ever taste such a combination of food and friendship again. p.s. The Wheelers were there, too.
2002 Mike's brother Richard, The Wheelers and our kittens in the good Brooklyn apartment. It was hard to leave that place. It's a sore subject for one of us. 
2003 Days after positive prego test. We were new to Westchester, so invited a couple we knew from Brooklyn, but are no longer in contact with. She was a Broadway Baby (in training) and he was looking for work as a radio guy. He was hilarious and kept us entertained. He coined the new phrase of a town we lived near from Tuckahoe to Slap-a-ho. I made apple crisps and she took leftovers home in a caserole carry bag I never got to see again.
2004 Zane's Debut turkey day. Dastrups + new friends. Mike snuck out the back door with the leftovers from the turkey we brought cos he didn't want to share with the other guests. I love that about him- how he matches my serious love for food. Well beyond courtesy.
2005 Dastrups (+friendly strangers)
2006 Just the three of us. And a lot of food. Oh! and the Turkey Trot.
I miss Brooklyn. I miss New York. I miss my friends. and family.
Not so much the cats that pissed on the carpet.
