Macy's Mishaps

The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade started in 1924 when employees of the New York City flagship store marched to Herald Square in flashy costumes. They borrowed live animals from the Central Park Zoo and professional bands, and the parade culminated with a greeting from Santa Claus on the Macy's balcony at the 34th Street entrance.

The parade grew through the 1930s, with crowds topping one million people and the first Mickey Mouse balloon entering the parade in 1934. The annual event was broadcast on local radio stations in NewYork in the 1930s and 1940s (with a three year hiatus during World War II when rubber and helium were needed for the war effort), and television coverage began in 1948. Large animal-shaped balloons replaced the zoo's live animals in 1927, and in the early years, the helium balloons were simply released into the sky at the end of the parade.

For many families, watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is an annual tradition of joy and awe as enormous balloons float high above the street and high-end entertainers take center stage. But the televised Thanksgiving perfection has not always run perfectly. Here are several years when best-laid plans went awry:

1927: Felix the Cat was let go at the end of the parade rather than deflated, and the crowds watched as he flew higher and higher ... and then popped.

1956: Mighty Mouse flew into a sign and crumpled slowly onto the crowds below.

1957: Popeye the Sailor Man collected rain in his sailor's cap over the course of the parade until a tight turn brought gallons of water dumping down onto spectators.

1991: Kermit the Frog crashed into trees and managed to continue on, but his poor head remained deflated for much of the parade.

1997: In an unfortunate incident, sudden winds caused Cat in the Hat to strike a lamppost, which fell on the head of a bystander and put her in a coma for a month. Police at the parade stabbed and stomped down the Barney and Pink Panther balloons to ensure that no one else would be injured, and organizers set new policies for the parade, banning larger balloons when the weather is foul.

Paul reminds us in Philippians 3 that before his conversion, he was nearly perfect in the eyes of his culture: He was circumcised on the proper day, a true Israelite, born of the tribe of Benjamin, an approved Hebrew among Hebrews, a rule-following Pharisee, faultless in adherence to the law. But even in his perfection, everything was amiss: Whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ, he writes in Philippians 3:7.

Earthly perfection should never be our goal, Paul reminds the Philippians. As Christ-followers, our job is to seek the Lord with hope and expectation:

I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ -- the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. ... Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:8-9, 13-14)

As we celebrate Thanksgiving this week, praising God for all the blessings we have in this tumultuous moment in history, how will you set earthly perfections aside and simply seek the presence of the Lord? How will you press on toward your heavenly prize?

Have a blessed Thanksgiving.

Jennie