WASHINGTON -- Across the United States, Americans paused Thursday to celebrate Thanksgiving. They spent the day with family and friends, eating and parade-watching. Some in the nation's Northeast struggled to prepare holiday meals without electricity, and many spent time preparing for post-Thanksgiving bargain-hunting.
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President Barack Obama spent at least part of his holiday speaking to members of the U.S. armed forces, an annual ritual that this year included conversations with troops helping to combat Ebola in Africa and fighting Islamic State militants in Iraq.
The phone calls -- to members of the Army, Air Force, Marines, Navy and Coast Guard -- reflected the unusual variety of complex missions U.S. troops are now engaged in.
"The President underscored to each U.S. service member that he was expressing his appreciation on Thanksgiving Day on behalf of a grateful nation," according to a White House statement. He told them that while engaged in distinct missions, each contributed to "the safety and security of the American people."
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel made similar calls, contacting an Air Force captain in Kuwait, a Marine sergeant in Liberia, an Army lieutenant in Afghanistan, and a Navy petty officer on a ship in the Arabian Gulf.
Hagel, who submitted his resignation under pressure from the president earlier this week, thanked the service members for their sacrifices for the nation, the Pentagon said.
"With everything going on with him, him even taking the time out of his day to call was awesome," Marine Sgt. Matthew Ohler said of Hagel. Ohler, 24, has been in Liberia since the summer maintaining MV-22B Osprey aircraft, which are being used to ferry medical supplies around as part of the effort to control the Ebola virus.
"It shows what an awesome person he is, even that he would take the time to talk to us," Ohler said. "He was more interested in what I was doing than what he was doing, and considering I like football, he wanted to talk about that."
Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address that it's a good idea for everyone to thank military members for their service, especially during the holidays.
"The sacrifices they make are extraordinary," he said.
He also said in the address that Thanksgiving is his favorite holiday "because, more than any other, it is uniquely American."
Obama said the first family planned to spend the day with friends and relatives -- catching up, eating good food and watching some football.
The president and his guests dined on roasted turkey, honey-baked ham, oyster stuffing, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, sweet potato gratin and green bean casserole.
The often health-conscience first family finished off the meal with a choice of pies: apple, pumpkin, banana cream, cherry, pecan and coconut cream.
In an ABC special called Thank You, America, which was taped Nov. 19 and aired Thursday night, the president and first lady Michelle Obama talked about their love of pie.
"The proper way to eat your pie is you should have just a little whipped cream on top," the president told ABC's Robin Roberts.
"We go all out on pies. We don't play with pie," he said, leading the first lady to respond: "I mean, this is why you work out every day."
The president also joked that his wife "never lets me share dessert."
"Because he eats it like that," Michelle Obama said. "Look, the crust is gone. Everything that makes a pie delicious is gone in his one bite!"
In New York on Thursday, heavy security -- including bomb-sniffing dogs and police helicopters -- protected spectators of all ages who lined the route of the nationally televised Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, which counted Thomas the Tank Engine, Paddington bear and the Red Mighty Morphin Power Ranger among its six new giant balloons.
Before the parade was over, snow flurries had replaced drizzle as thousands of people discovered they could get no closer than a long block away from the colorful spectacle.
"I can't go to the front. I can only see from here," said Ivan Souza of Florianopolis, Brazil, as he watched with his wife and two children.
Daryl Winchester, 17, of Queens, was luckier, snagging a front-row spot across the street from the grandstands where the parade began. "This is great. It's nice to feel so festive for the holidays," she said.
Shannon Hampton of Lakeland, Fla., celebrated her 18th birthday at the parade with a friend. "My favorite part has to be the balloons because they are so much bigger in person than you think they would be," she said.
Near the end of the parade route, six men and a woman protesting a grand jury's decision not to indict a white police officer in the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Mo., were arrested after they tried to march toward the parade route, police said.
They were among about 50 protesters who walked along the sidewalk carrying signs and chanting, "Hands up, don't shoot."
"We will not tolerate, under any circumstances, any effort to disrupt this parade," police Commissioner William Bratton said earlier Thursday. "This is a national event, a historic event. Anybody who would seek to interrupt it would be callous, indeed, on this very special day."
In other parts of the Northeast, a snowstorm knocked out power and forced some to celebrate Thanksgiving in the dark.
The loss of power was particularly felt in northern New England, where about 200,000 customers lost electricity in New Hampshire and about 80,000 were without electricity in Maine. In New York, more than 35,000 were without power, and about 15,000 customers lacked electricity in New Jersey.
In Putney, Vt., Mike Mrowicki was in the middle of baking squash and making apple-cranberry crisp when the lights went out. He said his family would improvise to provide a Thanksgiving meal for 10 people. "We've got a gas stove, and we've got a woodstove we heat with," Mrowicki said. "We've got plenty of lanterns and candles."
Meanwhile, as many Americans were sitting down to Thanksgiving meals, some early-bird shoppers were headed to stores.
By 4 p.m. Thursday, 100 shoppers were in line outside the Toys R Us in New York City's Times Square. By the time the doors opened at 5 p.m., the number of people waiting in line had doubled.
Mary Smalls, 40, was there to get all her early Christmas shopping done on Thanksgiving. She said she didn't want to venture out into today's bargain-hunting chaos.
"I'm going to try to avoid the crowds," Smalls said.
Opening on Thanksgiving Day is one way retailers are competing for Americans' holiday dollars.
In years past, the day after Thanksgiving -- known as Black Friday -- was when retailers focused their sales promotions. They opened before dawn on Black Friday. That progressed to opening earlier and earlier, until now, some open on the holiday itself to lure deal-hungry shoppers.
Last year, more than a dozen major retailers opened on Thanksgiving evening. And this year, at least half of them -- including Target, Macy's, Staples and J.C. Penney -- opened earlier in the evening.
The National Retail Federation expects 25.6 million shoppers to take advantage of the Thanksgiving openings, down slightly from last year.
Information for this article was contributed by Michael Riley of Bloomberg News; by Larry Neumeister, Dave Gram, Ted Shaffrey, Annie D'Innocenzio, Damien Troise and staff members of The Associated Press; by Dan Lamothe of The Washington Post.
A Section on 11/28/2014