Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone

Hoping you're all having a peaceful and wonderful holiday.

The official Christmas season is almost here (currently watching the Thanksgiving parade waiting for his arrival at noon).

Can't believe Halloween is almost a month behind us!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hoping everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We're currently drinking coffee and flipping between the Macy's and the Philadelphia Dunkin' Thanksgiving Parades.  That Dunkin' Donuts one initially started out in Philadelphia as the Gimbles Thanksgiving Day Parade, back in 1920.  It ran until 1986, and it always seemed to be on in my parents' and grandparents' houses, despite being wildly inferior in quality and talent.  By the 80's, it felt more like visiting a sad carnival in an old empty town.  Like a scene in a favorite Bradbury story:

Now a sword-swallower choked on a sword, sprayed kerosene in a gout of flame, and wandered out to applause from five small girls.

Three clowns knocked each other across the ring and bounded off to aching silence.

I think it was a Philly thing.  It was occurring in our own city, and we would like it if it killed us.  My sister even starred in it one year.  That's how it was treated in our house, like she was performing a musical number.  Meanwhile she worked for a now-defunct toy company called Kiddie City.  She was one of the five folks holding a support tether to an extremely small, round Kiddie City balloon in the parade.  And we missed her in the broadcast.  

Eventually, I stopped watching either parade.  It just seemed a little soulless and phony.  A few years ago, I turned the Macy's parade back on.  Had a fire going, had some music playing in the background, and kept the volume on the tv nice and low.  Felt a little like being at my grandmother's house on Thanksgiving morning.  And it actually wasn't all that soulless.  Nor phony.  It turns out it's that wonderful thing called Tradition.  And at this age, I welcome the actors I've never seen... and the songs I've never heard.

This year it's raining at both locations, and the crowds are excited and happy nonetheless.  

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!  Thanks SO much for reading this blog.  I truly appreciate it.

Here are some vintage and delightfully creepy photos from the Gimbles parade.

Image sources here and here.

Happy Thanksgiving

Hoping everyone has a really nice holiday today.  May your day be peaceful, relaxing, and fun.

Thanks to everyone who visits this Halloween blog!  

Lots of gratitude here.

Trailers: Thanksgiving

Remember a long time ago when a faux (and hilarious) trailer was released for a non-existent slasher film called Thanksgiving?  Well, after many years of rumors and excited anticipation, it appears the movie will actually be served to us (though I'm a bit troubled that it seems to have shed the goofier elements).  Definitely will be watching it though.  

Click below for the original (and NSFW) trailer:

And click here for the official trailer for the real film:

Now Playing: Thanksgiving (Of Course)

By George Winston.

Click below...

Thanksgiving Poems

A book I never knew existed, illustrated by a favorite artist... no one else out there like Stephen Gammell.  Thanks for the heads up on this, Wren!  Currently on my bookshelf next to my copy of Halloween Poems.  Gammell is a magician, making things mysterious and beautiful.  And the colors are perfection.   

The artwork really captures that feeling from the landscape in late November in these parts.  And that brought back some memories.  Thanksgivings from my youth were initially spent at my grandparents' tiny brick home in an urban block of the city.  We'd show up early and the day always seemed to be sunny, breezy, and cold.  It always felt like a holiday - different than a normal day.  Halloween was a month behind us, and Christmas was coming.  The Gimbles parade was on their TV, and we waited for Santa to arrive at noon (the official start of the Christmas Season, you know).  

And the house smelled amazing.  My grandmother was an exquisite cook and everything she made felt like we were in on some wonderful culinary secret.  Cooking and hosting duties eventually were turned over to my mother.  An assignment that no one was pleased with, including (and especially with) my mother.  My mother would be a great cook at a penitentiary.  Growing up, we were served the same particular meal on the same day of each week (e.g. Thursdays were chicken soup, Fridays were fish sticks).  Every.  Single.  Week.

The turkey seemed to be my mother's nemesis.  She battled with that thing for an entire day.  And you'd think the oven broke or the turkey refused to thaw, as we always ended up watching her check and poke and essentially ruin the classic shape of a turkey as we all braced for some form of salmonella (though that part never happened).  I recall the first time I cooked a turkey on my own.  I was filled with anxiety and fear.  But it turns out when you follow cooking instructions, a beautiful turkey can be made.  I'm wondering if my mother was trying to get someone else to volunteer for cooking duties...  playing the long game for sure (no one ever did).

So you look back on holidays from the past and you realize magic was there and it was a finite resource, all around you.  But you didn't realize that at the time.  As I get older, I find myself wishing I would have complimented my grandmother's meals more.  Or stayed longer.  Or visited more often.  I'm hoping she knew we were all excited to be a part of her talents and her generosity.  I'm certain she could tell (I'm hoping she could tell).

Anyways, going into this Thanksgiving, I'm feeling a mountain of gratitude.  For those memories.  For the good stuff.  Grateful for the people in my life.  Extremely grateful to be able to spend a peaceful Thanksgiving with music, a nice fire going, and plenty of wine and great food.  

Wishing everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Thanks so much for following this blog and my Instagram account.  All the emails, nice comments, and all the "likes" and follows mean the world to me.  

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving

Hope everyone has a really nice day, and hopefully nobody has to work tomorrow.

Blackout Wednesday Music

Blackout Wednesday (also known as Drinksgiving) refers to binge drinking on the night before the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. 

I always knew the night before Thanksgiving was a big drinking night, but never heard it referred to as Blackout Wednesday (or Wennnzzzdeee as we call it in these parts) or as Drinksgiving.  

Click below for some Dark-ish Club-ish Drinksgiving music...

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!

Hope everyone has a really nice holiday.
I'm EXTREMELY thankful to you guys for following and for being so supportive all these years of Haunting and blogging.

Click below for an appropriate Thanksgiving tune...

Thanksgiving Week

Black Friday Music

Click below:

The Thanking

Hope everyone has a really nice Thanksgiving.

As I recall the year my mother cooked the turkey the day before Thanksgiving because it was "too much of a hassle" to cook it on the actual holiday.

The art of Ed Binkley.

Plans For Thanksgiving

Do you miss the Turkey Day Marathons of yesteryear, when, loaded with tryptophan, you’d curl up on the sofa with friends and family for a postprandial MST session? Well, you can relive the magic once again with a special Web-only Turkey Day Marathon featuring six classic episodes curated and hosted by Joel.
This streaming event will kick off on Thursday at 9 am PT / 12 noon ET on Thursday, November 28th at MST3KTurkeyDay.com. Fans who have suggestions for episodes they’d like to see included are encouraged to tweet Joel (@JoelGHodgson) with their votes.

Thanksgiving

Going to take a few days off from blogging. I'll return on Monday.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Hallmarkish Thanksgiving.

The Ghost Of Thanksgiving

Featured this turkey ghost last year...


The office is closing early. Employees are in good spirits and ignoring work.
I'm dreaming of turkey on my plate and black olives on the tips of my fingers.

Image source.

1945 Parade Balloon

Image source.

Thanks, Jon, for this great link!

Turkey Ghost

Happy Thanksgiving.


Image source.