This Nostalgic Life #25
The Latest Edition of This Nostalgic Life Newsletter
Welcome to this edition of This Nostalgic Life where we’re taking you back in time to Thanksgivings past. We’d love to hear your story as well, so when you’re done reading, drop us a comment with one of your favorite Thanksgiving memories.
The Thanksgivings of My Childhood
by Eric Vardeman
Thanksgiving is coming up next week. This time of year always makes me very nostalgic because I have extremely vivid, happy memories of my childhood family Thanksgivings. From as far back as I can remember right up through high school, we had the same plans every year. Sadly, for a large portion of that time, we don’t have a lot of pictures. It was the late 70’s and early 80’s and cameras weren’t as pervasive as they are now and even though those little Kodak 110 cameras were popular my extended family wasn’t what you would consider “comfortable” financially. The handful of pictures that exist from those years are scattered and misplaced and, as I get older, I wish we had more of those pictures in my possession. But I digress…
We spent every Thanksgiving day with my mom’s side of the family. My mother is a full blood Cherokee Indian. English was her second language. My grandparents barely spoke English and most of my aunts and uncles were bilingual as well and spoke Cherokee most of the time when we were at large family gatherings like that.
My grandparents lived in a little two bedroom house with my uncle way out “in the country” in a little community called Grease. Not too far from their house, on the same plot of land, my uncle parked a mobile home where he, his wife and their two kids lived. On the other side of that plot of land another aunt and uncle lived in a run down, two bedroom house. This plot of land backed up to a small forest that, in turn, opened up to a mountain and my cousins and I played out there with abandon and very little apprehension. At any given Thanksgiving meal, there were probably 25-30 people (sometimes more) coming and going but there always seemed to be food at all three houses. My grandma, my mom and her sisters as well as several adult cousins were prepped food all morning. All of it was homemade and all of it was delicious. Around this table is where I first experienced a Cherokee delicacy called kanuchi. In the meantime, my dad made sure the rabbit ears on the TV were adjusted accordingly so we could watch the Lions play the early game but the game we were really interested in was the Dallas Cowboy game. He was a huge Cowboys fan and never missed the Thanksgiving Day game.
The day after Thanksgiving was reserved for my dad’s side of the family. My father had six brothers and a sister all with families of their own so my Granny’s house was as full of people as my other grandparent’s house.
Her house sat on a good sized lot and her house sat one one side of the lot while one of my uncles had a mobile home parked on the other side. The rest of the lot was just yard for me and my cousins to play in and get in trouble. I had more boy cousins on this side of the family and we always ended up in the front yard playing football. Full contact football. There was a row of hedges about four feet tall that lined the edge of the yard and separated it from the sidewalk. One time, while playing football, I tackled one of my cousins so hard I sent him sailing into the hedges. He tore them up trying to climb out of them and we got in huge trouble for that. The highlight of the day, however, was when the Oklahoma Sooners played the Nebraska Cornhuskers. It was an annual event on the Friday after Thanksgiving that actually continued through 1996 when the Big Eight conference gave way to the Big Twelve conference realignment. Save a few hopeless souls, my entire family were rabid, diehard Oklahoma Sooner fans (my Granny the biggest of them all. One of her sons played football there) and most of us would cram into the living room and dining room areas to watch that game. My dad’s side of the family was a rougher bunch and I learned many a curse word in that living room during those games when Oklahoma didn’t manage to emerge victorious (even when they did I heard many a curse word).
Something else I remember as I think about both days is the selections for Christmas gift exchanges. Both families took advantage of the large group and decided who was buying gifts for who. After we found out which cousin was buying for which cousin the conversations would begin: "what do you want?", "what do want?", "get me this or this".
I think the last time we were all together on my dad's side was 1984 as my Granny died in the summer of 1985. As for my mom's side of the family, it might have been a year later in 1985 as my grandma died in 1984 and my grandpa died in before Thanksgiving in 1985. Time moves fast, folks. And as I get older, I discover more and more that details of memories get sketchier and sketchier. Those were grand times, though, no matter how much of them I remember or forget. May you and yours have a blessed and happy Thanksgiving.
The Early Days of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
by Mick Lee
Every year on Thanksgiving morning, while countless turkeys are roasting in the oven, over 3 million people bundle up and line the streets of New York to watch the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. In addition, another 50 million people tune it at home and watch the parade on television. Here is how the Thanksgiving tradition began…
Back in 1924, Macy’s department store was looking for a unique way to market the holiday shopping season. Several ideas were batted around, but they eventually came up with the idea to have a parade. They initially ran a series of small notices in various New York newspapers, and then placed a full-page ad in the New York Herald Tribune on November 27, 1924…Thanksgiving Day. “Today is the big day! Big Christmas parade welcomes Santa Claus to New York.”
It went on to promote “elephants, bears, camels, monkeys, clowns, brass bands, and everything that makes a real Circus Parade so dear to everybody.”
The ad worked, and more than 250,000 people turned out to watch the parade, and then scores of them followed the parade to the Macy’s flagship store on 34th Street. Santa Claus was the star of the show, as he unveiled that season’s holiday window displays and declared the Christmas season officially open.
The first parade was such a smash hit with the people in New York, Macy’s decided to host one every year. In 1927, the Macy’s Christmas Parade was renamed to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and the zoo animals were replaced by huge, helium-filled balloons. The balloons were to be released into the air at the end of the parade, where planners thought they would float gracefully and harmlessly into the sky and would be rounded up later. Unfortunately, that’s not exactly what happened. As the balloons rose higher into the sky, the helium inside them expanded more and more until they exploded over Manhattan.
The next year, Macy’s redesigned the balloons and fitted them with safety valves to avert the issues from the year before. They also fitted each balloon with return-address labels. A $100 reward was offered to folks who found and returned the balloons. Adjusting for inflation, that translates to $1500 in 2019 money.
Over the years, one balloon disappeared over the Atlantic ocean, and countless others were torn to shreds by people fighting over who would get to claim and return the balloons for the reward money. In the interest of public safety, Macy’s stopped releasing the balloons in 1933.
The parade was already popular before television took off, but it could increase it’s popularity if it were to be broadcast over the airwaves. In 1939, an experimental local TV broadcast of the parade was filmed with cameras positioned above Central Park’s Museum of Natural History. Unfortunately, World War II brought an end to the broadcasts, as the war effort needed not only the broadcasting equipment but also the rubber needed to make the signature balloons.
Television coverage of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade resumed in the United States in 1946. While much of the early footage is lost to history, footage of the 1946 parade still exists due to the 1947 movie, Miracle on 34th Street. Some of the parade footage was used in the film, preserving it for history.
The first national broadcast of the parade was in 1948. It was only an hour-long segment, and it was broadcast on a delay. In 1961, the broadcast was expanded to two hours, and in 1969 the parade began being aired in its entirety. But it’s not live for everyone. A tape delay is still used to ensure that it’s seen all over America at the same start time of 9 am.
CBS aired the parade until 1955 when NBC took over the rights. That isn’t to say that other networks can’t air it though. Since the parade is held on public streets, that makes it news, and other broadcasters can legally show it. CBS telecasts it to its affiliates without a tape delay, so viewers can see the parade hours before the delayed “official” NBC version airs.
The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has aired annually since it’s beginning. Since World War II, Macy’s has only considered calling off the parade once. In 1963, Thanksgiving fell only a few days after the assassination of President Kennedy. Macy’s didn’t think it was appropriate to have the parade during a time of national mourning, but letters and calls poured in by the thousands from all over the country urging them to go on. Even newly sworn-in President Lyndon Johnson encouraged them to carry on. During that year’s parade, parade flags were flown at half-staff, and black streamers accompanied many of the floats.
If you would like to get a look at what the parade was like in its early years, there is a short clip of the 1935 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade available to watch on YouTube. You can watch the clip below:
In 1984: Wham! scores their first #1 song this week with "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" leapfrogging Prince who moves into the #2 position. One of the most iconic songs of the 80's, "Purple Rain" will sit at the #2 spot for a couple of weeks never reaching #1. A crime, in my opinion.
In 1990: After peaking at #10, "Cherry Pie" from Warrant is making it's way back down the chart. The song was a late inclusion on the album. The record label didn't hear the rock anthem they were looking for on the album and asked lead singer Jani Lane to work on one. He worked the song up in about fifteen minutes. The label loved it and suddenly the album was called Cherry Pie and the marketing for the album, the band and the song all centered around the song even though it was not one of the band's favorites from the album.
Playlist: This Week In 1984
Playlist: This Week In 1990
In every edition of This Nostalgic Life, we like to share a curated list of nostalgia-themed articles, stories, and posts that we’ve come across recently. It gives you a chance to discover great content and remember things from your past that you may have forgotten. With that in mind, here are some things we wanted to share with you this week. (All links will open in a new tab.)
Planes, Trains, & Automobiles: 47 Differences Between the Film and the Script (The Retro Network)
Thanksgiving: The Middle Child of Holidays Nobody Invited to the Cool Kid’s Table (Nostalgia Nation)
Thanksgiving on Roseanne (YesterYear Retro)
Why Do the Lions and Cowboys Always Play on Thanksgiving? (Mental Floss)
12 Everyday Items From the ‘80s That Now Feel Fancy (New Interesting Facts)
Thank you for joining us for another issue of This Nostalgic Life. Be sure to leave us a comment about anything in this issue that connected with you and we can discuss in the comments section. See you next week for another nostalgia-packed issue!