Andrea Rosebrock 
It’s Thanksgiving and time for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade! One of the biggest events for New York City and the most watched event on TV. Known for its elaborate floats, marching bands, celebrities, and the enormous character helium balloons. It’s estimated that 44 million people watch the parade on TV every Thanksgiving Day.
Giant character balloons have featured a famous characters from film, television, comic strips, and cartoons. These balloons for the parade are inflated the day before on both sides of the American Museum of Natural History. The inflation team consists of volunteers from Macy’s as well as students from Stevens Institute of Technology where the balloons and floats are designed and built. The inflation is open to the public Wednesday afternoon and night before the parade.
Among the many famous characters include some of the most popular dogs. Here the famous dogs of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
The Friendly Dachshund in 1950
Beethoven
Clifford the Big Red Dog
Scooby Doo
Snoopy as the World War I Flying Ace
Underdog
Blues Clues
I remember when the kids were little, my parents would come over early for Thanksgiving, and my Dad would sit with the kids and watch the parade. They used to get so excited over the animal balloons.
I hope this tradition does not fall thru the cracks of time. It is just something I remember as a child, and hope someday to have grankids of my own to sit and watch it with.
Andrea:
Thanks for the great pictures. Happy Thanksgiving!!!
P.S.
I am thankful that there will not be a turkey carcass on my table! I choose to adopt one from Farm Sanctuary to help in some small way. I hope some other folks feel the same. If you do, many thanks!!
YIPPEE And way to go Lisa. Here is one “folk” who feels the same.
And thanks for the wonderful pics Andrea. I had forgotten all about some of the great dog balloons. A very Happy Thanksgiving to all. One of the things to be thankful for is D and all her tireless efforts, this great blog and everyone here who shares and makes a difference for the good every day. Truly a thankful blessing.
Thanks Peggy. You’re the best. Happy Thanksgiving!!! Yes, many thanks to D and all of us folks who truly care and have a kind heart!!!
When I was 7 years old I got to actually go to the parade. It’s a memory I have cherished my entire life. It was snowing and cold that Thanksgiving day. My father worked in NYC and we got a plum spot in front of the building where he worked. It was so exciting to see the floats and balloons right there in front of me. Watching the parade is a family tradition. It’s just not Thanksgiving without seeing it. Tomorrow I’ll be watching it with one of my grandchildren, and I can’t wait!
This will be our last Thanksgiving in this house, which is very bittersweet for me. Our mortgage company decided to give us an early Christmas gift of a notice of foreclosure. So, like thousands of others across our country, we’ll be searching for a pet-friendly place to rent. But, when I sit down to say my prayers of thanks, I will be thankful for my wonderful family, my precious furbabies and my husband, who is my life. As long as I have all of them, then I am home, no matter what the street address is.
I hope you all have a blessed Thanksgiving. Always be mindful of the things that really matter.
Bonnie,
You are such an inspiration to us all for all your work, knowledge, sharing and advocacy for those furbabies in need. I know that everyone on this list, shares in some small way this sadness and heartbreak for you and your family. We are enriched by your being on this blog and each and everyone of us sends you all our thoughts, our care, our love and our prayers. How inspiring you are to us all. May God send you the love, blessings and new address that you so richly deserve.
Thank you so much Peggy. Darn it, you made me cry! But they are good tears. This blog and the tireless work that D does every day for the voiceless along with each and every person here have all been an inspiration to me.
I’m constantly amazed at the loyalty and devotion each person here has for our furry family members, and those precious ones out there who are in need of that kind of loving home. Collectively, we have been a voice that has been heard time and time again, all thanks to D who brings us all together at this “table”, where she enlightens us to the need, no matter where it is.
I have grown to think of all of you as an extended family, and I thank God for each of you every day. When we all gather together tomorrow, I know every one of us will have a bit of heartache for the innocents who are locked away in shelters or chained in back yards or roaming the streets, cold and hungry and longing for a home.
We’ll be fine. It’s a bump in the road. But after 36 years of marriage, we’ve had a lot of bumps. We just hold each other’s hand and move forward with no regrets, and our love to see us through.
I’m looking forward to our vegan feast tomorrow. Yummmmy! Big hugs to each of you!
Bless you Bonnie and your vegan heart of gold
Now, you brought tears to my eyes. What a wonderful caring person you are. Big hugs back to you and your family sweet lady!!!
So looks like I can count three vegans now YIPPEE…..
so very sorry for the news, Bonnie. we’re in the same boat. we’re hoping that our foreclosure can b stopped or “fixed” so that we don’t lose our home. keeping u n u’r family in my thoughts n prayers. this is a very scarey place 2 b in, esp when u have 4 dogs n 8 cats……..
PS i don’t eat a much meat as i used 2 but~sorry~i’m not completely vegan………………….i’m working in it, tho. i DID have a vegan thanxgiving…..all i had was wokked veggies…..mmmmmmmmmm
I’ll keep you and your family in my prayers as well. Unfortunately, we are too old and my medical future is too iffy for the “fix” option. We thought it might be, but after speaking with the lawyer, it’s just not.
As for the vegan thing, it’s like I tell everyone when I discuss it with them, even just one day a week makes a HUGE difference for the animals. It’s such a personal choice, and everyone has to make it for themselves. But even just a slow process, which is how I got there, has a positive impact.
I don’t judge others for what they eat. As I said, it’s so personal. I just educate when I can, and tell others about the humane options out there so they can make informed choices. But I love everybody the same, meat eaters or not. It’s what’s in the heart that counts.
Dru
Prayers and good thoughts that your mortgage holder will work with you and that you will be able to save your house.
Most of us who are vegan, came to that way of living through a series of experiences in our life’s journey. Tom Regan, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and most well known and respected vegan, uses the term muddler when asked how he became a vegan. I love it, not only his great discussion in one of his books, but also because it is the best explanation of how I became vegan. I muddled my way here in, as Bonnie says, a step by step process to consciouness of concern and compassion for animals, all animals, but it started, as it does for many of us, with dogs and cats and other domestic “pets”.
Should you want a vegan Christmas or Thanksgiving next year there a lots of full menus and wonderful Vegan Holiday Meal Plans, from down home comforting to urbane gourmet. Just a note so you know there are options.
We will all keep you and your family in our prayers as well as Bonnie and her family that good things and better times with many blessings lie ahead for all of you.
Amen to that! Onward and upward!
Hi Bonnie: I am very sad
to read that you are losing your home. I work as a legal assistant for a Bankruptcy Attorney; so I see on a daily basis just how many people are losing their homes to foreclosure. It’s a crying shame and my heart breaks for all of the good people, like yourself that have become victims to the ailing economy and bad business pratices by so many of the banks/lending institutions. I often think to myself: How do these people sleep at night?
Happy Tanksgiving everyone AND…WELCOME BACK D!!!!!! Missed ya girl!
Sorry to hear of the horrible news Bonnie. Yea…nice Christmas present. I’m with you Lisa K….Just HOW do these people sleep at night and how many of their family and/or relatives have had to deal with this?
I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and is shared with those you love. May there be much laughter and joy for each and every one of you. This is a time to give thanks and I have so very much to be so very thankful for….and, I am! God Bless all of you and, please, be safe in your travels.
Dee, where have you been? Are you okay? I was beginning to wonder about you. I have been so busy with things going on here. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Don’t forget your dog, fix something wholesome and good for them to eat too.
Yes, Dee, I was wondering the same. I hope that you are okay. I don’t always write something but I always read the blog and share in my heart!!
Thanks for your kind words and feedback Jessie. Big hugs to all. We are thinking of you dear Bonnie and family
P S I couldn’t have said it any better or more eloquently than you did Peggy. Please count my words as “Yeah, what she said” with utmost sincerity!!
Bonnie, my thoughts and prayers are with you during this horrible time in your life. I too feel that the blog is my extended family, which I am grateful for.
Happy Thanksgiving to all and all your furbabies. It is hard to think of all the homeless babies during the holiday season.
Hugs to all, and special hugs to everyones little four leggers.
~ Happy Thanksgiving ~
Dru, I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers also. I cannot imagine what you and Bonnie must be going thru. This world has changed, and it is not the same as it was years ago. People are so greedy, and don’t look at the “family” situation. These banks and mortgage holders only think of the all might buck.
Good luck to you dear.