NYC in November Part-2

Ahem... (cuing up Johnny Mathis)

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas Ev'rywhere you go;

Take a look in the five and ten glistening once again

With candy canes and silver lanes aglow.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas Toys in ev'ry store..."

We're really feeling the holiday spirit! So, after only two weeks since our last visit, we drove back to NYC for a little R & R. I'm beginning to think that my dad likes to drive in the city...more on that later. This time, we came to the Big Apple for shopping and to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade...from Times Square, baby!


Thanks to a few bizillion points earned from my dad's work-travel, we were able to get a great room at the NYC Marriott Marquis Hotel in the middle of Times Square. It's just a short walk to most everything we enjoy doing in the city.


After lunch and check-in we headed to Build-a-Bear Workshop whose mission is to Bring the Teddy Bear to life. This is the place where you select a bear, fill him with stuffing, insert a heart, stitch him up, then dress him in any one of two hundred outfits. Kinda makes you want to be a bear...so many fashions and accessories sized One-Size-Fits-All.

With Daddy's help, I selected a very traditional bear. Here we observe the Filling Station where our bear is pumped full of soft stuffing.

OK, Bear is fully stuffed - we're on our way to the dressing table.

I picked out the FDNY uniform for Bear. Mommy claimed the last pair of boots from the shelf. From here, we registered Bear's demographics and received his birth certificate.

Whoa...Daddy! I love Bear!!

Editor's note: William does not permit Bear to wear any outfit other than the firefighter uniform. We're hoping that he'll relax this standard soon.

After Build-A-Bear, we headed to Macy's for some shopping. The Christmas section is amazing! There are dozens of trees distinctly decorated with beautiful ornaments and lights. We picked up some gifts for friends and a few souvenirs for our tree!

The Macy's storefront and windows are beautifully decorated for christmas

After shopping we returned to the hotel for some delicious sushi - Bear joined us for dinner, though he didn't eat much...he said he was stuffed.

The historic location location popularized in the 1947 film, Miracle on 34th Street.

Day II of our adventure - we grabbed some coffee and headed outside to claim our place to watch the parade among one million spectators. Huge thanks to our friends who helped us get into one of the best parade-viewing locations in the city.

It was cold and blustery with wind-chill hovering in the teens - perfect conditions for William refusing to wear gloves. Not to worry, he's adapting nicely to the wooden replacement fingers.

Harold the Fireman - originally seen in the 1948 Macy's Parade. In 2001, a large group of children of NYC Firefighters and Police Officers escorted Harold along the parade route. We've proudly added a Harold ornament to our Christmas tree.

Macy's stars and balloon cruising by Toys-R-Us.

Buzz Lightyear to the rescue!!

This guy is huge...! He measures 67 feet long, 39 feet wide and 34 feet tall.

The two-hour parade climatically finished with Santa arriving on his sleigh. Everyone was excited to see Ol' St. Nick!

So, recall me mentioning that my Dad likes to drive in the City? This is truly a sight to see. It's fun to watch the smirk on my Dad's face as he merges into the swarm of NYC traffic. Just as Mom is tightening her seat belt (for the fifth time), Dad is lunging and swerving through traffic to the envy of the Taxi cabbies.

This is sport for my Dad.

I really need to get him a set of golf clubs for Christmas.