As the Price cousins finished eating their pumpkin pie with whipped cream, the oldest of the bunch noticed the clock on the wall above the door to the basement and quickly alerted the troops.
“Its nine o’clock,” declared Carmen as she snatched the minister’s boys empty plates along with her own before taking them over to the kitchen sink. “It’s time for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade to come on the boob tube.”
After all the other youngsters hurriedly placed their dirty dishes and utensils on the counter, they rushed through the pocket door and piled into the living room to watch the annual holiday event on the console television.
When Uncle Carl entered the boisterous living space with his little niece, the boys were sprawled out on the rumpled sofa bed while the two oldest girls were setting up a jigsaw puzzle at a small table off to the side.
However, the two youngest girls, the predominant cause of all the havoc taking place inside the four walls, were practicing their cheerleading moves directly in front of the small screen.
“You two better move out of the way if you know what’s good for you,” demanded 10-year-old Rhett. “Cause if I have to get off this couch, you’re not gonna like what happens next.”
“Eww… you’re a big tough guy,” shot back GiGi, the seventh grader with attitude, as she taunted her little brother. “What are you gonna do… try to beat up a couple of girls; cause I’ll knock you clear into next week.”
“That will be enough out of both of you,” pronounced the 22-year-old as he reasoned with his nieces. “The boys are trying to watch the parade; but you girls are standing right in front of the TV set.”
The instigator, along with her younger cousin Kelly, turned tail and ran as the pair joined her older siblings, who were laughing hysterically as they began putting together the one-thousand piece puzzle laid out on the table.
After neutralizing a potential radioactive catastrophe, the amiable young man then turned his attention to array of activity happening on the pull-out sleeper along the opposite wall.
“I just saw the real Tom Turkey on television,” I announced while bouncing up and down at the top of the bed with a wide grin. “So, I should have known that wasn’t him in the kitchen cause he can’t be in two places at once.”
“You’re a smart fellow,” observed the blue-eyed gentleman before hoisting this energetic shaver over his shoulder. “But the bouncy house just closed down for the day; so it is time to get off the ride.”
“I need a little help here, Red,” the amateur juggler called out to his oldest niece as I climbed over my uncle’s shoulder and whacked him on the backside. “Would you put Kathleen on the floor by the recliner with a few of her toys?”
Carmen rushed over and took the little blondie before helping to get the youngster’s play area set up in the nearby corner with a birds-eye view of the television set.
“Oh, you wanna fight,” queried the former Army National Guardsman grabbing this little tyke by the belt and lifting me into the air. “How bout I stuff you inside the sofa bed when your cousins put it away.”
As if on cue, the blond-haired young man’s other three nephews lounging on the sofa bed climbed off and began the process of closing it up to magically transform it back into a couch for sitting.
“After a short commercial break,” remarked Betty White as she sat in the broadcast booth with her co-host Lorne Greene on the television screen. “The forty-sixth annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will be right back with the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes.”
When the parade returned to the black and white screen following the commercial break, the young ladies working the jigsaw puzzle came over to watch the dancing girls perform in front of Macy’s Department Store in the heart of New York City.
“Here are the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes,” mentioned the actor from the television show ‘Bonanza.’ “Prepare to be amazed as the dance company perform to the timeless classic ‘The Christmas Song’ by Nat King Cole.”
“That is amazing,” uttered Silver as she sat on the arm of the couch closest to her well-liked elder mesmerized by the small screen. “I can’t believe they all have the same exact moves without messing up.
“That’s what you call precision,” mentioned the jovial young man while bouncing this six-year-old on his leg to the beat of the music. “They spend numerous hours practicing those moves until they work in sync together.”
Following the spectacular performance by the high-spirited dance troupe, the four girls jumped up and linked arm in arm as they stretched out in front of the fireplace imitating the Rockettes.
As the young lasses kicked their legs high into the air while belting out the Christmas tune, Kathleen waddled over and joined in on the girls animated curtain call giving everyone a good laugh.
“The little blondie wins the prize,” asserted the former Army National Guardsman as they all clapped and cheered for the little lady. “I think she did the best high kick out of all you gals.”
When the impromptu entertainment portion of the parade had ended, Carmen picked up the nearly two-year-old as she snatched up a few of her toys and brought the toddler back to the puzzle table with them.
As the annual holiday parade neared the end, the announcer stated the big guy in the red suit was spotted around the corner to the delight of children everywhere, including two little tykes sitting on the couch in Kenmore, New York.
My big brother John and I jumped for joy when we saw the white-bearded jolly Old Saint Nick sitting atop Santa’s Sleigh, which was being pulled by his eight tiny reindeer ushering in the holiday season.
Mark S. Price is a former city government/county education reporter for The Sampson Independent. He currently resides in Clinton. If you’re interested in reading the extended version of this story in his novel titled, “Little Church at the Top of the Hill,” just type the title into the Facebook search engine and scroll down to Chapter 31, Before the Parade Passes By.