A Day of Parades, Feasts, Flight Delays

Across the country, millions of Americans gathered with family and friends on Thanksgiving to enjoy gut-busting feasts and take in holiday traditions such as football games and parades.

In New York, where it was an unseasonable 65 degrees, the big hit of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was a giant yellow sponge with a red tie. Thousands thronged to see SpongeBob SquarePants and scores of other gigantic balloons, floats and bands marking the traditional kickoff to the holiday season.

Meanwhile, travelers at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport were thankful just to get home Thursday. A Midwest storm stranded hundreds overnight after nearly 50 flights were canceled. The National Weather Service said parts of Illinois got up to 8 inches of snow; up to 9 inches fell in southern Michigan.

“You have to take it all in stride. We’ll get there eventually,” said Theresa Pixler, whose flight from Chicago to Sioux Falls, S.D., was canceled Wednesday night. She hoped to make it to Iowa in time for Thanksgiving dinner.

Strong thunderstorms, high winds and icy conditions made driving treacherous for thousands of other travelers.

Despite 30-degree temperatures and biting wind, Carl Williams was up at sunrise Thursday to prepare turkey legs, bratwurst, hamburgers and hot dogs on an outdoor grill in Detroit before the city’s annual Thanksgiving Day parade. Thousands of people braved the chilly weather for the parade before football fans from the Detroit Lions-Indianapolis Colts game started showing up.

“Shoot, this is the place to be,” Williams said as he warmed his hands over the glowing coals.

The weather did not stop Nick Nicholson and his family from watching the parade in person, instead of on TV. Daughters, Katie, 10, and Lindsay, 3, sat in a little red wagon at his feet, wrapped in fleece from head to toe. “I wanted to sleep later, but this’ll be fun,” Katie said.

Many families nationwide opened their homes to service members who couldn’t see their own families for the day.

Joshua Flesher, 20, a Marine based at Ft. Knox, was one of four soldiers staying with a family in New Albany, Ind. “If it wasn’t for them, I’d be standing duty right now,” he said.

More than 100 service members enjoyed a home-cooked Thanksgiving meal thanks to families in Virginia. Jan and Steve Daum of Gloucester, who were feeding two Army National Guard privates from Ft. Eustis, figured the more the merrier.

“We had done Thanksgiving with just the two of us, and it’s not as much fun as with a crowd of people,” Jan Daum said. “When you can’t be with family, make a family.”