Watching the Thanksgiving day parade with a cute tsundere

"What are you watching?" Nina asked.

"The thanksgiving day parade," I replied.

"Thanksgiving parade?"

"Yeah, Thanksgiving's a big holiday in America. Every year, they hold a parade in New York featuring balloons and floats as well as marching bands and performers. They even have some anime characters getting in too."

"Really!? I had no idea this was even a thing."

Nina then sat down and watched with me.

"Why do they cut to commercial so often, and why do they keep showing the reporters talking with some guys instead of the parade!?" Nina grumbled.

"That's sadly how they do things, every year," I groaned.

"Huh!? Then why watch this?"

"It's more like a tradition. Though now, if you don't like dealing with the TV broadcast, you can switch to a livestream online. Look, no commercials," I stated as I pulled up a stream of the parade on my tablet.

"Why's it saying dog show up next?"

"Because a dog show usually follows the parade, then later on its the annual Thanksgiving day football game."

"There sure are a lot of events on Thanksgiving. Come to think of it, Labor Thanksgiving is today as well."

"Ah yeah, you mentioned that was a thing. Is it the same as Thanksgiving?"

"Not quite. It occurs every year on November 23 unless it's a Sunday. If it's a Sunday it gets moved to Monday. As for celebrations, I remember back when I was in school we made gifts to give to first responders and the coast guard and self-defense force. There were also family get togethers for dinner. Though compared to America's Thanksgiving, it feels pale in comparison. I mean, we don't have large scale parades like this."

"America usually does do things on a big scale. Though I'm surprised Japan's thanksgiving is on a specific date. Our Thanksgiving is always on the third Thursday in November."

"That's crazy. Hey, isn't that Rufa from Three piece?" Nina asked as she pointed at the TV.

Sure enough, a balloon of Rufa from the hit anime and manga, Three piece floated by.

"It's about time he made his parade debut. Some other anime characters like Zoku and Suikachu have been in the parade for years now. I guess it's because Three piece wasn't quite as popular in America until it got a live action TV adaptation. But now, it's nice to see Rufa make his debut," I stated.

Suddenly, a tree branch punctured Rufa's signature hat, giving him a bucket hat.

"What happened!? Why'd his hat pop!?" Nina cried.

"It's pretty common, but at least it was just the hat. One year, Varney the orange dinosaur popped and they had to drag his balloon to the ground and stab it with knives to deflate it," I stated.

"That sounds traumatizing, for kids. I mean if I saw that now I wouldn't get upset," Nina fidgeted."

I decided to change the topic.

"Did you know the parade always starts with a turkey float and ends with Santa?" I asked.

"Santa's at the parade!?" Nina gasped.

"Yep, he's always the last float. I guess it's meant to symbolize the arrival of Christmas. Though, most stores seem to put Christmas stuff up at the start of November, heck I saw a few stores put up Christmas stuff as early as mid-October."

"Sounds crazy. Oh, speaking of which. Did you know Japan does Black Friday sales too?"

"No, but I'm not surprised. Though even here, I never go to stores for Black Friday. WAY too crowded. That, and there are arguably better deals on the stuff I like on cyber Monday or online in general."

"Guess we're not going shopping then. Oh hey, Santa showed up," Nina stated as Santa appeared at the parade.

"Thanksgiving's more about being together than shopping anyway," I smiled as I gently leaned Nina into my shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm glad I'm with you," Nina smiled.