When I was a young father, I thought everyone should experience Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in person. Silly me.
My first son was small enough to ride on my shoulders. Which meant he could see both the street and the giant inflated creatures passing by high above. His eyes were wide open, I was told.
Unfortunately, I picked a Thanksgiving when it was raining. A lot. And steadily. If the parade stopped briefly, water gathered atop the inflated animals. When they started up, gallons of water cascaded down on the poor men holding the ropes.
At one point, I heard behind me that familiar Nu Yawk accent. "Hey! Sanny Claws balloons here. Getcher Sanny Claws balloons."
I turned, and there he was, a bedraggled but determined man holding a dozen inflated Sannys over his head. The man's hair was matted. Rain streamed down his face onto his soaked jacket.
And with the optimism of a street salesman, he looked at me and said, "How many?"
It worked. I had to buy one.
Thanksgiving is the topic of this week's audio commentary. It is my absolute favorite holiday. Christmas was exciting. Grandma was there. And I did listen for reindeer feet on the roof above my bed. I never heard them, but that doesn't mean they weren't there.
But Thanksgiving seemed somehow pure and innocent. It came. We feasted together on familiar foods. Enjoyed each other's presence. And then it departed. Pure and simple. No pressure to buy stuff. And wrap it. And no painful aftermath of bills in the new year.
Things have changed in our country in a lot of ways. Thanksgiving is one of them.
In the most recent audio commentary I talk about the one thing that is predictable in our new president. It's both a plus and a minus. But it gets him automatic attention at home and abroad. Which is also both helpful and not so much.
This week's Sunday column thoroughly examined the disturbing reality we are perilously living in for the next two months: There's no coherent president in charge. And actually, he was wandering around South America, spending money on the last of his many freebie trips abroad as president and vice president.
On one VP junket, Joe Biden and his entourage ran up hotel bills in excess of $1.2 million in just two nights in Paris and London. But don't worry. It wasn't his money. It was taxpayer funds.
Oh, and where was the handpicked vice president as Biden's constitutional backup?
She had implanted herself on a Pacific island out of touch. And checked out, facing unemployment in the private sector. Which spared us another world salad. But did not generate any optimism that our elected chief executives were in charge or even knew what was going on.
My RedState colleagues, as usual, are producing humdinger posts these days. One by Becky Noble reveals the hidden payments media have been getting from unions while providing positive "news" coverage.
As Joe Biden does so routinely in virtually every public appearance these days, he produced another cringe-worthy moment when participating in the annual pre-Thanksgiving photo-op ritual of pardoning two turkeys.
Media is all over that easy story instead of asking the vital question: Who is actually making government decisions in place of a commander in chief with a missing brain and a missing vice president?
And Jim Thompson takes a refreshing — and candid — look at Thanksgiving food prices this year.
