Happy Thanksgiving

OK, once again I had to get up at 5:30am. This time it was a wake up call from our Hotel on 7th Avenue and 31st Street. A recorded voice yelled into the phone "This is Milton parker from the Carnegie Deli" and encouraged me to wake up and get some real corned beef or pastrami....I don't remember it exactly because it's now 1:00am -- a long day since that recorded wake up call.
It reminded me of my first job after college at Circle in the Square Theatre, where one of my jobs was to arrange for producers' house seats for all the Broadway ahows (not just Circle) anytime milton or his partners needed tickets for themselves, their friends, their families, their good customers. For this, I got a terrific gift certificate from some fabulous place each December (Bergdorf's was one) and, most importantly, when I went to the Carnegie Deli, I was ushered to the front of the always long line, and when seated, I was given a CLOTH NAPKIN, not a paper one like everyone else. Henny Youngman got a cloth napkin at Carnegie, as did all the greats and notables when they ate there. I went into Carnegie about a week ago for some take out...only one of the faces seemed to be one of the old-timers, the rest didn't quite seem the same. Luckily the knish, pickle and pastrami DID seem the same! The take out was for a friend of mine...see http://isothegoldenegg.blogspot.com for the details on that. (Yes I am DD!)

Speaking of old timers -- why did I get up at 5:30 on Thanksgiving morning? Because once again, my partner David and I had to be at Macy*s by 7:00am to join Santa in an executive board room to get ready to be in the parade. We were the elves driving the reindeer on the Santa's sleigh float -- our ninth year! What a trip riding in the stretch limo with Santa and Mrs. Clause, helping them get in the sleigh (A very high, so not always easy situation) and then riding down Central Park West and Broadway to herald square.

It's impossible to relate the feeling as we see the crowds smiling up at us, screaming "Santa" sitting on their balconies and window sills from the extraordinarily huge apartments lining CPW the San Remo, the Majestic, the Dakota anyone?), the kids dressed in their Thanksgiving best jackets and dresses or still in their pajamas (the probably 3-year old in nothing but her panties this morning), the older people already sipping cocktails, the woman cooking who refused to look at us, theose who refused to smile and those who beamed like the children in the next apartment, waving and calling to santa as if they were still 5 or 6 years old; the family with the beautifully taxidermied turkey in their window, the crowds lining the rocks and trees in Central Park, or blocking traffic on Broadway, gathered in office buildings, seemingly everywhere....they say 3 million people watched us today in person and did I hear 100 million on TV?

Pulling the reins on the reindeer, ringing the sleigh bells with the foot pedals, smiling for the cameras. This year we got a lot of time on NBC....could it have been because Al Roker's daughter was a Christmas Tree on the float with us this year? Exhausting, fun, pictures once they get uploaded.