The annual Christmas Parade used to take place in downtown Raleigh around ten in the morning on Thanksgiving Friday.  Once my little five-year-old daughter Anna and a couple of her friends and our big black and white dog Ralph walked in the parade together (with Ralph and me trailing), Anna in her Wizard of Oz Dorothy costume with ruby-red shoes, Ralph awkwardly wearing a cardboard sign on his side reading "And Toto too..." :-)  The Channel 5 judges thought they were cute and awarded them third prize in the children's division.

It was cold that day and the marching bands kept closing in on us, the drum patter making a fifty pound Toto a bit nervous--he was sure happy when we came to the finish and could finally shuck that silly sign.

Growing up in West Raleigh, I remember cold, gray Thanksgiving afternoons, leaves piled high along Wheeler, kids playing touch football in the street (every third seam in the white curb a first down), or maybe if our moms weren't looking, a game of tackle in Michael Peatross's front yard on Lash.  Nancy Warren next door would come down to play with us--she could hold her own with us boys. :-)

Afterwards at home, I would join my family in the den to watch the traditional NFL clash on television between the Detroit Lions and the Green Bay Packers, my mother and grandmother shuttling back and forth between rooms busily preparing our evening dinner, setting the antique table in the dining room with our best china and filling the table with Thanksgiving fare-- a roast turkey stuffed with sage dressing,  bowls of rice,  giblet gravy, candied sweet potatoes with bubbling marshmallows, green peas, brussel sprouts, a green bean casserole, creamed pearl onions, two types of cranberry sauce--the homemade fresh berry one with walnuts and the jellied one from the can (I liked them both), and hot buttered biscuits, all followed by  pumpkin pie with whipped cream, coconut cake with whipped cream icing, and dad's special ambrosia. Such a feast!

When dinner was finished, we youngsters would play Clue or other games such as Stratego and Risk, or maybe slip away for a good holiday movie with our parents at the State, the Ambassador, the Village, or the Cardinal theater.  As we grew older into high school and college-age kids we tended to venture over to Hillsborough Street for the night life or maybe the Players' Retreat on Oberlin.

Thanksgiving evenings brought about a sense of happiness to me--being around my family and friends throughout the day and seeing such good things like owners Bernie and his wife Mickey at the Players' Retreat offering their annual free Thanksgiving dinner to their customers, many without families, to those who might be down on their luck.  The PR is a good memory for me for a lot of reasons (e.g., the brown-eyed girl in the corner booth), but mostly for the kindness and generosity of Bernie and Mickey, their eager patrons munching happily on Thanksgiving turkey.

Enjoy the brisk Thanksgiving air in Raleigh.  Rake those leaves into manageable piles, toss a football or kick a soccer ball around with your children and grandchildren, and remember Broughton days and Broughton nights.  When we were so young. :-)  

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! 

From Thailand--Dan(ny)    

Hey, Danny!  Just logged on and saw your ode to Turkey Day.  That certainly brought back fond memories of my own Thanksgivings in Raleigh.  As I've aged (matured?), moved, and had a family of my own, I realize more and more that our youth in Raleigh was fairly idyllic.  To be sure, it wasn't perfect, but now, when I see the world through older eyes, I can really appreciate the benefits of growing up when we did.  Yes, there was a war and immense social change going on in the world around us, but we didn't have invasive social media, we didn't have hundreds of cable channels narrow-casting disparate and divisive points of view 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and we didn't have national leadership that seems more committed to advancing their own interests than they are to actually solving the problems that come naturally with a complex society.

Thanks for taking me back to what really were the halcyon days of our youth!

Michael

Hey Michael,

I never did reply to you for your wonderful comments, so now let me just say......There's a guy who has it all together.  You really do.

Thanks from a lot of us.

Dan(ny)