Many Mark Holiday by Feeding the Poor : Thanksgiving: Thousands nationwide join in eating, serving free feasts. Elsewhere, spectators of all ages spend the day parade-watching.

Thanksgiving was more than just turkey dinner at Grandma’s.

“As I look out over the gym, I kind of think it’s my vision of what heaven is like,” said Joe Micon Jr., who helped serve about 400 Thanksgiving dinners at Central Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis.

In Atlanta, about 33,000 people came in from the cold for a free turkey dinner in a school, courtesy of hundreds of volunteers who coordinated the 24th Feed the Hungry and Homeless dinner.

“I’m grateful,” John Jones said. “You’d be surprised. A lot of people wouldn’t know where to go, where to eat.”

At the Kokomo, Ind., Rescue Mission, a blind man called with nowhere to go for dinner.

“He didn’t have any family and he was alone, so somebody went and picked him up and brought him here,” said Sheri Hale, a member of the mission.

Thanksgiving Day took on other forms as well.

Thousands of children, and more than a few grown-ups, braved wind-swept, 28-degree weather in New York City for Macy’s 68th annual Thanksgiving Day Parade of marching bands and giant balloons. Millions more watched on TV.

A parade newcomer, Dr. Seuss’ Cat in the Hat, lost a little helium and ended up with a deflated paw. Barney, the purple dinosaur, almost took a dive after hitting a lamppost and tearing a hole in his side.

Temperatures in the 20s didn’t deter fans of America’s oldest Thanksgiving Day Parade, the 75-year-old procession in Philadelphia.

“I’ve been coming to this since I was a kid--but I’m not saying how long that is,” said Brenda Thompson, who watched with her 7-year-old son, Dylan. “I think Santa is still my favorite part.”

In contrast, President Clinton enjoyed “quiet time” with family and friends on Thanksgiving Day and was expected to tune into one of the televised football games and indulge in at least one catnap, the White House said Thursday.

The President, Hillary Rodham Clinton, their daughter, Chelsea, and the First Lady’s mother, Dorothy Rodham, arrived at the Camp David retreat in the Catoctin Mountains of Maryland on Wednesday night.

They were joined Thursday by the President’s stepfather, Dick Kelley, and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and her family, said spokesman Jonathan Spalter.