Parades, games 'place to be' for Thanksgiving / LJWorld.com

Despite 30-degree temperatures and biting wind, Carl Williams was up at sunrise Thursday to prepare turkey legs, bratwurst and hot dogs on an outdoor grill in Detroit before the city's annual Thanksgiving Day parade.

He had a lot of cooking to do. Thousands of people braved the chilly weather for the parade before football fans from the Detroit Lions-Indianapolis Colts game across the street started showing up.

Kermit the Frog floats above the newly renovated Columbus Circle during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York. The parade featured 59 balloons and 27 floats.

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

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 and parades.

In New York, where the weather was an unseasonably warm 65 degrees, the big hit of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was a giant yellow sponge with a red tie.

Thousands of onlookers jammed the streets to see the floating SpongeBob SquarePants and the scores of other gigantic balloons, floats and bands that mark the traditional kickoff to the holiday season.

Big Bird, Garfield and Clifford balloons make their way down Broadway through Times Square during the 78th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Thousands crowded into New York City to see the annual event Thursday.

Tim O'Connor risked total exhaustion by holding his 4-year-old grandsons Sean and Declan in his arms during the parade.

"The atmosphere of the parade is so friendly," he said. "It makes it a nice event, and it gets them out of the house so that parents can cook dinner."

Meanwhile, travelers at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport were thankful just to get home Thursday.

The Midwest storm stranded hundreds of holiday travelers at the airport overnight after nearly 50 flights were canceled. The National Weather Service said parts of Illinois got up to 8 inches of snow, while up to 9 inches were expected in southern Michigan.

In Crawford, Texas, President Bush spent a down-to-earth Thanksgiving Day at his ranch eating leftovers and riding his mountain bike -- a world away from Baghdad, his secret destination a year ago.

Bush also called members of the military stationed around the world, most of them deployed to the Middle East.

It was a dual celebration: His twin daughters, Jenna and Barbara, marked their 23rd birthdays on the family's ranch.

President Bush phones U.S. troops from his ranch on Thanksgiving Day in Crawford, Texas. The president surprised troops with a visit to Iraq last year, but Thursday he opted for a quieter holiday with his family.

Across the country, many families opened their homes to servicemembers who couldn't make the trips to see their own families for the holiday.

Joshua Flesher, a 20-year-old Marine based at Fort 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.

Jan and Steve Daum of Gloucester, Va., who fed two Army National Guard privates from Fort Eustis, figured the more guests, 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."