With this most likely being our last holiday season living in the city, we are making sure to make the best of every single moment. It’s such a magical time of the year here in the city. The streets are lit up with Christmas lights, the store windows have their holiday displays, and the city has this special feeling to it that is nearly indescribable.
Last week we were invited to experience a first for all of us; to attend the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. I have grown up watching this parade every single Thanksgiving and it was always a dream to be able to go. But even living here, it’s hard to do it. You have to get up at the wee hours of the morning sometimes in frigid temperatures only to wait longer for the parade to come by your spot. While I might have been able to do it by myself, there is no way that the girls would ever be up for it.
You can imagine our excitement when Sprout, the preschool television channel, invited us to their breakfast and a chance to see the parade right from the windows of a gorgeous hotel. It was too to say no to, so we headed over early on Thursday morning and enjoyed all of the great Sprout activities while we waited for the parade to begin.
There were so many fun things for the girls to do, but a highlight for us was getting to meet Chica and see Laurie Berkner perform!
Har must have stood at the window for more than 30 minutes with these binoculars waiting for the parade to begin. It was so special watching her excitement.
The parade has started!!
Avery couldn’t contain her excitement either. Every time a float went by she yelled, “daddy, daddy” and pointed to the float so that MacKay could see it. She wanted daddy to be involved in every single thing she saw, which was the cutest thing to watch.
These windows were the perfect spot to watch the floats go by.
The look of pure amazement on their faces was priceless.
Harlan was obsessed with these binoculars. Even though she could see the parade perfectly without them, there was something about the novelty of the specs that she loved.
And the man we were all waiting to see…..Santa Clause!
After the parade we had to hurry home so that I could start preparing Thanksgiving dinner for our friends and family that were coming over. It’s hard hosting a dinner in a small apartment and I certainly didn’t want to overdo it for myself, but I was so happy with this simple table setting that I pulled together. It’s just the little simple touches that helped pull everything together.
Mason jars are my absolute favorite things ever because they are so versatile and can add a bit of flair to anything. These sat on our dinner table for fall and it was only appropriate to add it to our Thanksgiving table. I was sad to have to put them away when we put up our Christmas decorations over the weekend, but I am sure that I can find something to stuff into them for decorations.
So thankful for my sister who came over the day before and helped me cook the dinner and the appetizers, I couldn’t have done it without her! And the food was absolutely delicious!
The obligatory family shot. It was way too cold and late in the day to go outside for a good one, so we made due with what we had.
Avery was not willing to sit down at all and take a picture with Harlan. Thankfully Har has some great big sister skills and managed to get her to sit still for a couple of minutes.
I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and wonderful holiday weekend with your family!
