Happy holidays without turning on the stove… As the magnet says:  MAKE RESERVATIONS!! That is just what I did!  Back in July, I thought about taking my “Grand Girls” to the Big Apple for Thanksgiving. NYC here we come (if the pocketbook could stand the expense of the trip)!  I have always wanted to see the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in person and now that I am getting older, I thought that I had better seize the moment NOW! I had this conversation with my precious Aunt Dot back in the summer and she was seriously considering making the trip with us. She died on October 12th of this year and her death made me realize how short life can be.  Her funeral was on her 85th Birthday and she was a very vivacious “Energizer Bunny”.  She could have kept up with us and never missed a beat.  I know that she was looking down on us every minute of the trip and believe me I had so many thoughts of her. I have been very blessed to have her in my life!

Let me tell you, this was the best idea that I have ever had!  No dirty dishes, no leftovers, no oven to clean and better yet ,no ROLAIDS or extra POUNDS. Made the reservations to go to NYC and we counted the days to the departure.

I planned every day very carefully to include everything that we could possibly do in four and one-half days.  I had 2 things that I wanted to do FOR SURE: The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and The Rockettes. Some of the other activities included were: the Broadway musical “The Addams Family”, Time Square, Radio City Music Hall, Ground Zero, the top of the Rock, Dinner at The View, the Empire State Building, Dylan’s Candy Store, Canal Street, Rockefeller Center, Ellen’s Stardust Diner, St. Patrick’ s Cathedral, Macy’s, Fifth Avenue, Madison Avenue, several rides on the subway, the inflation of the balloons the night before the parade, and last but not least SHOPPING!  Of course, we had to work around the weather and we did just that!  I told the group rain or shine, cold or hot we were going to see all that we could possibly see while we were in the Big Apple so get ready to GO! WE were NOT going to NYC to watch TV or play on the computer!

Mission has been accomplished and this might become a family tradition. These memories will not be found in a cookbook!

Stay tuned for some great Christmas activities with your children, grandchildren or friends!