The Hollywood Christmas Parade celebrates its 90th anniversary Nov. 11. See a parade photo gallery.
This was not the first Thanksgiving I spent in New York City.
There was an old Thanksgiving dinner out on Long Island with my parents and my youngest brother, Peter, who was only 7 at the time. My father and mother were busy making their Thanksgiving pies and stuffing and other dishes, and my mother often worked behind the stove. Peter and I were allowed to come with her to help with the cooking, and we always had a great time.
When we got home, there was a big turkey on the dinner table. (I still have the turkey that my mother made that Thanksgiving.) There were lots of people there, and my father’s brothers and his father were having a big feast. Their uncle was in from New York and was a big shot in the movie business, and he came with a lot of people. We all sat at the kitchen table and listened to the stories that some uncle and aunt were telling.
So I was very excited to see their family for the first time, and I was in awe seeing all the cousins and great-aunts and great-uncles and grandfathers and great-grandfathers and so on and so forth.
We did not have much time to spend with them before dinner was served, and we had to help prepare dinner, which would be served for 12 at a family celebration in New York City.
Well, not quite 12, as the family that is being celebrated has 16 great-grandchildren. So this family of 16 had a bit more to eat, and then the family had more for their dessert, and everyone laughed about how we had stuffed with rice instead of stuffing and also had a little bit of cheddar cheese instead of cranberry relish.
My parents would make us sandwiches for lunch, and they had this enormous jar of pickles for breakfast that was about a foot tall. We had big lunch boxes that would hold sandwiches, and I would go for days with only bread and cheese on mine.
One time,
