Thanksgiving Festivus & Traditions In the Name of Homemade Goodness!
By Charla on Nov 14 Filed In Sweet Contests, Uncategorized 207 Comments
UPDATED WITH WINNERS!
Barbara H.
My tradition of late is to have untraditional food at Thanksgiving! No turkey, no stuffing, no mashed potatoes and gravy. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good turkey dinner. It just seems like we’ve changed over the years and like trying new things or unexpected main courses at the holidays. This year, we’re having bbq baby back ribs and fried chicken. It’s like having a summer outing when it’s cold outside! Since we watch a lot of football on Thanksgiving, it’s also a natural to have food we can eat with our hands! Enjoy whatever on your holiday!
Shreenath
With my family thousands of miles away, I get together with my sister in NY, go to her rooftop with close friends and cousins and watch the thanksgiving day parade together. We count how many familiar floats we see and rejoice in the excitement of the festivities.
Then, we head in and cook together and eat a long multi-hour lunch with tons of chatter followed by some poker to round it out.
Sarah G
I was raised vegetarian so we never had a turkey. My parents created tofu cutlets which are just heaven! Tofu marinated in wonderful spices and breaded and baked. We always make my grandmothers savory sweet potato casserole too! Watching the Macy’s parade is essential and this year is especially exciting because my cousin Scott McEvoy is playing in the parade with his band! I also like going around the table and saying what we are thankful for. The holiday is all about family!
Elizabeth Marcus
I make pumpkin cheesecake! and we eat the whole darn thing!
Laura
I always make cranberry bread around Thanksgiving time. I use fresh cranberries and all-fresh ingredients to make the bread, oh, make that breads!!
It’s too popular to make just one – I make two, as the first one disappears almost as soon as it comes out of the oven. Then we have one for the next day, which usually goes pretty fast, too.
I like to have it for breakfast with black coffee, and sometimes for an afternoon snack with some chilled tea. Just writing this is making me pine for some right now! I will be making it in the early part of next week, as a warm-up to all that eating that we will be doing on Thanksgiving!
Alessandro Vazquez
My favorite tradition on Thanksgiving has to do with my grandma’s famous homemade glazed donuts. She only makes a small batch each year so its first come first serve. Of course, Uncle Bobby (the favorite) always seems to get donuts so I make it a point of getting to Grandma’s as early as possible to text him pictures of me enjoying the donuts!! If he beats me, he does the same!
Anh-thu Nguyen
Often my birthday will land on Thanksgiving. Most of my fond memories as a child was having the turkey as the cake. I’m not complaining frosting wasn’t my thing so it all worked out. I don’t mind sharing my birthday when it often involves a feast
Laura Benold
We watch the Longhorns play the Aggies! This year is the last year the Aggies will be in the Big 12, so it’s extra special.
Amanda Medina
We go turkey trotting to make room in our bellies for the stuffing of our faces.
Dre jr
My favorite tradition? My mom always makes deviled eggs the night before and I always sneak in the kitchen once she goes to sleep and eat as many as I can. Now that I’m grown and on my own, I get to their house as early in the morning as I can and still sneak into the refrigerator and eat as many as I can.
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I must admit, Thanksgiving happens to be one of my favorite holidays. I love having friends and family over to the house for a gargantuan meal of epic porportions. Like most families, we usually have the same line-up of goodies on the table every year and I’m completely fine with that. In fact, I wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s the only time of year I get to eat stuffing, sweet potatoes, deviled eggs, cranberries, turkey, rolls, green bean casserole, pies, etc. etc. all in one sitting. Or two, if I have to take a break.
But the thing that makes Thanksgiving unlike any other family meal gathering, besides the line-up of casseroles, is that good ol’ thankful feeling that gives the holiday it’s name. Everyone in our family gets a chance to tell us what they are most thankful for this year and it varies from the serious to the seriously funny. You can always count on a cousin or uncle to lighten the mood with a wise crack. It got me thinking, I wonder what other Thanksgiving traditions might be out there that make this holiday extra special? For some, maybe it’s watching one of the football games or playing a game of catch outside. Maybe it’s gathering around the tube for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. Or maybe, you’ve got something really fun we should be doing at our table this year!
So, is there something your family and friends do every year that gets everyone in the holiday mood and keeps the festivus alive past nap time?
Share a Thanksgiving Day tradition in the comments section below for a chance to win some Homemade Goodness for your table. With all those good eats, you’ll need something good to wash it down! Just tell us a tradition that you and yours have by Thursday, November 17th and we’ll pick a few of our favorites to surprise with a box of Sweet Leaf Tea in time for the feast.
Hi ,
my kids and I usually pack up every year on Thanksgiving and go to the country to see my sister , she is 64 and the best cook I know . We always stay for awhile visiting with her .
By the time we get home , its almost time for the black Friday deals to start , so we drive around and look for sales . Last year we stayed up all night . Got home about 6 am and then slept.
My favorite tradition? My mom always makes deviled eggs the night before and I always sneak in the kitchen once she goes to sleep and eat as many as I can. Now that I’m grown and on my own, I get to their house as early in the morning as I can and still sneak into the refrigerator and eat as many as I can.
We love to wake up early to watch the parade and follow it with Thanksgiving lunch at the best local Indian buffet. We then go home and kick off our Christmas season by watching A Charlie Brown Christmas.
Well, Like so many of us who are not from Austin but “got home as soon as we could,” we find ourselves sometimes starting new traditions around the holidays. Having been lucky enough to move into a neighborhood that welcomed us Georgia transplants (and sweet tea aficionados) with open arms, we soon realized that there were many of us on our street in the same situation where the traditional family Thankgiving table is thousands of miles away. So, in the spirit of appreciating many new good neighbors and friends alike, we just started inviting all the “transplants” over and a new tradition was born! As travel plans change from year-to-year so do the attendees, but everyone who is in town knows that they always have a seat at the “Priest River ” Thanksgiving table. It would be so great to share our love of Sweet-Leaf Tea this year. Granny would be right at home with us!!!
Thanks and Happy Thanksgiving!!
Kurt and Janifer Wheeler
Round Rock, TX
We go turkey trotting to make room in our bellies for the stuffing of our faces.
Every year we go on a mad shopping spree early in the morning, the day before T-Day at the flagship Whole Foods and the Lamar Central Market (in order to avoid the insane lines and the like. Then have breakfast at Flip Happy Crêpes, go to Round Rock Ikea, then we go for lunch at a random, yummy Austin restaurant. We don’t have dinner that night in preparation for the big feast, instead we get coffee and watch the bats fly downtown! The rest of the night we spend prepping. The next day, we cook all morning, eat early, then fabricate our Black Friday battle plan!! I love doing it year after year!
I never really got into the parade when I was little, but now that I have my son to make traditions for-I make sure that the t.v. is on and a palatte is made on the floor for him. I spend the entire day baking and cooking, ready to impress everyone with my mad skills. My son helps with the pies
. We eat way-too-big portions and settle on the couch to relax away some turkey fatigue. 
Then, battle plans are made for Toys-r-us for little man.
I am in love with this tea y’all. I would totally stock my fridge if I could. Apparently, other foods are needed to survive besides tea.
On Thanksgiving Day, all of the women gather and shred the Turkey together. We don’t do Thanksgiving too traditional, so instead of carving, we spend quality time shredding the turkeys, chatting and stealing extra pieces before the rest can get a hold of dinner.
One year someone forgot to turn on the oven, and the turkey wasn’t done until really late. Now we deep fry that bird every year and it’s done before anything else.
We get to sleep in (which is rare!) and wake up and watch part of the recorded Macy’s Thanksgiving day parade, then I make my Grandma’s awesome Green Bean Casserole, then we preceded to go to whatever family member is cooking this year and sip Martinelli’s sparkling apple cider and enjoy good food and good company! (and of course stuff ourselves silly!)
We watch the Longhorns play the Aggies! This year is the last year the Aggies will be in the Big 12, so it’s extra special.
The best part of Thanksgiving is the meal! But don’t forget about the worst part… all those dirty dishes. Our family settles everything fair and square, right after we break bread we shake our knives. Sounds strange, I know, but when my grandmother bought her silver in the 1950′s, for some reason one knife had an extra piece of metal on the inside (that makes this distinct jingle-y sound.) Whoever has the jingle knife gets to do all the dishes… which works out well for the clever person who offers to help by setting the table
My favorite tradition is something I do every year with the youth group at my church, on the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving day, we go turkey bowling! You take a frozen turkey and throw it down a lane of slippery plastic and you try to knock down bowling pins, which are really plastic Christmas decorations. It is a lot of fun and makes great memories, like last year one of the brown gravy packets exploded and got on the wall! It is so festive and is a time for fellowship and enjoying one anthers company
Tradition for my family involves no one making the entire meal on their own. Each one of my family members bring their own dish to add for the main feast. That way we all get to see each other! Face it, what Thanksgiving if my Uncle do’sent bring the stuffing, my Mom bringing the turkey and cranberry relish, my cousin bringing the mashed potatoes and gravy! Each part being unique. Its the best time of the year! (Besides Christmas, of course!)
It all depends on who’s side of the family we go to that year. If we go to my dads side, it is always a nice, small get together of direct family. I get to see my cousins from Arlington and fort worth. We come over to my grandmothers house early that morning and start helping… well, the moms start to help, the guys sit around and talk, sharing stories from the year so far and watching pre-game show for the cowboys. My brother and I go play each other on her NES, Super Mario Bros of course. My grandfather died around 6 years ago, and it hasn’t been the same ever since, but we continue on like he is still here with us. My moms side is completely different, all but the Cowboys game. Wene we go over to my great aunt and uncles house for thansgiving, you better believe that the whole family tree will be there if they are able. One year we had 57 people there, and there were still around 15 people not there. My cousins ride dirt bikes and such around the land while I sit and watch (I once ran into a tree and lost my fingernail on my pinky). One of the best memories we all have is of my grandfather getting on a little two-stroke bike and popping the clutch to fast, doing a wheelie, and busting his butt on the driveway! Even while typing this I am laugh. I hope this want to long, but I couldnt find a place to stop! Happy Thanksgiving!
We have our turkey with pasta and homemade applesauce. Then it’s football for the men and going to play outside with the kids for the women.
Our tradition is unexpected but reliable – we have come to count on having some kind of culinary crisis every year! One year the oven doesn’t work, another year the soup pot ruins the whole batch, another year the turkey is ten pounds smaller than we needed. My family always finds a way to enjoy the chaos and the stress – and laughter is naturally a big part of that! Of course, enjoying a meal (usually later than we expected) of turkey, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cornbread, cranberry sauce, cranberry-ginger relish, and many pies to follow always helps!
After sitting down and enjoying a delicious meal that was cooked through the entire morning. We gather up the chairs, as many that could possibly fit around the tv to watch the game. Laughing and just enjoying the company of family and a few of us with the ads, planning our early shopping trips of course!
I never really got into the parade when I was little, but now that I have my son I try to make some traditions special for him. I make a palette on the floor for him and let him spread out while I cook away in the kitchen. My son always likes helping with the pies.
We wait anxiously for the food and then sit down for way-too-big portions. I make the best stuffing balls by the way. The Hubs cleans up since I cooked and then we settle down to relax away our turkey fatigue. After little man is in bed, I make my battle plans for the next morning.
A family tradition of ours is to eat a our families’ houses. Sometimes we go to several homes.
My favorite tradition is my grandmother making me my own special pumpkin pie – without the crust.
We don’t stray to far from the norm on Thanksgiving at my house. Watch the parade in fear and disbelief that Christmas is right around corner. Stuff ourselves silly and in the evening we usually play euchre (a midwest card game).
My mom is a Texas Ex, my dad is a Texas A&M Former Student. I am a proud Texas Longhorn, Class of 2012, and my little sister is as Aggie, Class of 2014. We are truly a house divided. For Thanksgiving, my parents come down from Fort Worth and my sister and I drive from College Station and Austin to see our extended family in Victoria. After lunch on Thursday we skip out on power naps for the football game! This year I’ll be sitting in the student section at Kyle Field sporting burnt orange and supporting our Longhorns! Friday morning we all go back to Fort Worth to spend the weekend at home, because my sister and I have so few opportunities during the regular semester.
Hook’em Horns \m/
We usually eat ourselves into a tryptophan stupor; and then laugh ourselves silly.
This might not count, since it is a tradition that we follow only every other year, but here goes! My dad has Texas A&M season tickets, so every other year he is gone for Thanksgiving. On those years, my mom and I make a dinner just for ourselves of things my dad wouldn’t appreciate on a Thanksgiving anyway, such as frozen margaritas and fajitas with chicken. It is especially nice for me, because I live in Wisconsin now, and don’t generally get my favorite foods from back home!
We spend Thanksgiving at my mom’s house and then go to other relatives’ houses the following day. We always have to cook a separate non-Turkey dish because my dad doesn’t like turkey. But sometimes we’ll sneak it on his plate, and as long as he doesn’t know it’s turkey, he’ll eat it & like it.
Thanks for your awesome product!
My family all share one thing we are especially thankful for that year. Of course, the Dallas and Texas game feature fairly prominently in our thanksgiving agenda.
When we are not at my in law’s house, my father in law will call on the phone and make turkey noises and hang up. I have noticed that his children can also make this interesting turkey noise. Never had I heard of this until I married my husband. It’s even more funny in person because you get to see their faces when they gobble like a turkey–their necks kind of wiggle like a turkey’s waddle!
We go over to my inlaws home and have our Thanksgiving dinner there. The men watches football and the women are in the kitchen preparing the table. The children are usually in the lower level playing video games & watching TV. We have such a great time every year.
For whatever reason, the televised Thanksgiving Day parade doesn’t hold my kids’ attention as it did mine when I was a child. Therefore, our tradition has become getting all of the Christmas decorations and the Christmas tree out of the attic and into the living room. We start decorating for Christmas while the Thanksgiving Day parade is on which keeps us all together and off of electronic devices. Every now and then someone will comment on a balloon, a song or a celebrity guest. Before you know it the decorating and parade are over, and we’ve started Thanksgiving Day with quality family time.
A family tradition of our is simple. Its our day for the whole family to get together and be Thankful for everything that we have and each other. Especially my daughter!
We always use one of two sets of good china. One dates from before the Civil War. There’s always all sorts of pets who join us. One year, we had a blind raccoon who feasted off of the plates. A Native American animal eating from an American antique!
After my mother passed away, my husband and I assumed the hosting of Turkey Day at our house. Last year, we were joined by the parents and brother of my nephew’s girlfriend (who were both also in attendance). We knew they were lovely people, but found ourselves absolutely delighted when they brought homemade instruments and performed several Renaissance tunes for us! In addition to being quite adept with their instruments, they all also have wonderful singing voices! It was the best Thanksgiving we’d had in years, and the tradition will continue this year!
What, unintentionally, has become our tradition every Thanksgiving is to fail at the turkey making — every year we try to make turkey it comes out wrong: undercooked, flavorless, takes too long, you name it, haha! It does make for a rather hilarious moment when we’re all anticipating the outcome of the turkey as it comes out of the oven though. Which brings us to our second tradition — making a prime rib as backup! That, we’ve got down!
My memories of Thanksgiving had been nearly unchangeable over the course of my entire life. Early Thanksgiving morning, my parents and older brother would pile into the car and set off to grandma’s house. We would be greeted at the door by our grandfather waving a camera at us and the smell of baked turkey wafting around the small house and tickling our appetites. We would sit and watch cartoons as the adults stock piled the table high with potatoes, corn, cranberry sauce and all the fixings of a great Thanksgiving meal. We sat around the table (I always sat next to grandma) and we would bow our heads and say one thing we were all thankful for. My well wishes as a young child consisted mainly of thanks for material possessions like toys or music personalities.
A few years ago, my grandfather passed away. He didn’t suffer a life-threatening disease so it came as a shock to us all, but not as big a heartbreak for us as for our grandmother. That year she grew quiet and withdrew for us, lost in her own head. Thanksgiving suddenly stopped. She lost the will to go on with life. That’s when the alzheimer’s and dimmensia kicked in. Now when I see grandma she cannot recall my name to speak from her lips but her eyes still light up when she sees my face so I know, somewhere deep-down, she remembers.
This Thanksgiving we’re inviting grandma back to our small house where I’ll be taking her place in the kitchen. I know she won’t remember it November 25th, but I hope for those few precious hours we spend with her that it will fill her heart with the same joy I used to feel during a time when we were all sitting around the table together, gobbling down grandma’s famous pumpkin pie.
Just this week our eight year son, Eli, asked me, “What’s your favorite holiday, mom?” I quickly replied, “Thanksgiving.” It reminds me of being a young girl, watching the parade, and being in the kitchen with my mom (who just turned 67). And now I live six hours away from her.
So, now I watch the parade with my three sons, and I’m reminded that we are to enjoy the whole day, to breathe in every smell, hug every family member or house guest, so that we can remember to honestly be thankful.
My husband, our son and his girlfriend, my daughter and her boyfriend and my husbands brother all eat dinner together. Then after eating we usually nod off watching tv. In the evening, my husband, kids, their dates and I go to my sisters house to spend the evening with her, her kids, their families and my other sister and her family. We eat more good treats , have a name exchange for Christmas gifts. We always tease each other about who’s name we received for the gift exchange. It’s alot of love and laughs. Plus there are 3 dogs running around too.
My family gets together at noon at my aunts house. We do gave people from out of town as well. We have the tradtional turkey mash patties green beans homeaid gravy then my aunt bakes all the sweets pumpkin pies banana breads pumpkin beads we enjoy family time with games talks about the old days when my grandma was still around.
We put the turkey on the smoker outside. ‘Nuff said.
My favorite Thanksgiving memory is when my far-flung family descended on our richest relative in Texas. While the adults were arguing over politics, uppity relatives, and the color of the sun, we kids were playing our favorite game of mad scientist. Usually this involved potions made of toothpaste, shaving cream and peroxide, the cousins in from the Philippines had learned a few new things. I still don’t know what they put together, but it blew the doors off the bathroom cabinets, and the eyebrows off of one of my cousins (and the skin off his backside, soon after). Amazingly, we’ve all made it to adulthood, and left our bomb building behind, but the story still comes up with a smile at every Thanksgiving.
Every thanksgiving it’s always the same. Spandex pants and a long blouse, 1pm dinner at moms, 5pm dinner with dad’s parents, 8pm over at my boyfriends house, and 10pm back home with all of our friends. At the end of the day my fridge has enough left overs to feed a family of 5 for a week, and the need for new strechy pants.
My kids and I get up and watch the Parade while Daddy sleeps in a little. When Daddy wakes up we go by his Aunts house and have our delicious Thanksgiving feast. While we are there we continue watching the parade and talk about what has happened since the last time we got together.
I come from an Italian family with many traditions. We of course have unique Italian food. Similar to turduken we have the ballettizza. It involves taking a meatball, winding spaghetti around it, and stuffing that into a pizza. One of the fun games we play is Who Has the Highest Cholesterol? A medical professional is on hand to take blood samples to see who can achieve the highest number after eating trays of proscuitto and various cheeses. We also try to have one course between each family argument. After 23 arguments, we have desert.
Every year the day before Thanksgiving my mother and I argue about who’s going to be cooking on Thanksgiving. I argue for her to cook since she has always been the cook in my family and she argues that I need to learn to cook a holiday meal for my son so I should cook on Thanksgiving. So to end the argument I agree to make desert if she cooks. So I stay up all night making cakes and pies but my mom gets up early to start cooking and smoking the turkey. So the next morning everyone wakes up to the smell of yams in the oven and smoked turkey outside 2[if we have the windows open]. While everything is cooking me and my brother act as taste testers on everything being made just to make sure it doesn’t need that extra pinch of salt. Then by noon [12pm] were eating Thanksgiving dinner.
We have not seen my oldest daughter in a very long time. She is 21. I also have a 9 year old daughter that loves her big sister, and longs to see her. My oldest is promising to come visit us this Thanksgiving. It will be the best Thanksgiving ever.
My husband, my father- in- law and I go to my sons home. Our daughter also comes with her family and her inlaws. My sister brings her entire family and the married kids bring their inlaws. My sons wife has her parents and her cousins family with their inlaws. It is a wonderful family gathering and no one is left out. Everyone brings a dish or two. There are three twenty pound turkeys. Everyone has a fabulous time and gets leftovers to take home. As the family has grown so has our attendance . We ALL look forward to this gathering.
I always invite people over, they (like me) don’t have any family here, so we all enjoy the day with friends.
There is a tradition that I have with my family and friends…whoever is present at the Thanksgiving day feast. I have each person write down the one thing that happened since the previous Thanksgiving that they are most thankful for and the the one thing that they disliked or regretted most. We take the “thankful” things and make a Thankful Tree and we take the “dislikes/regrets” and put them in a bucket so that we can burn them after our meal. Sometimes it can be a very emotional thing to witness as we celebrate beating cancer or “burn” away a messy divorce. It is amazing how grateful you become when you physically write down your greatest joy and your heaviest burden.
My family doesn’t always manage to get together, but when we do, everyone goes to my Aunt Mary’s house. We all talk amongst ourselves & watch football until our meal is ready, then we all stand in a large circle and we each say one thing we have been thankful for during the past year. I have a very large family so we start from youngest to oldest so the kids don’t get restless
My favorite tradition is attending at least five Thanksgiving dinners on Thanksgiving day each year. As a kid, I quickly learned the benefit of both parents divorcing and then re-marrying the same year…suddenly, my sister and I had double the dinners and double the fun!
Thanksgiving means getting all the family together and enjoying the time around the table. After dinner is over and the table is cleaned up, we like to play some friendly poker. My youngest brother has a “snack” chair that had a drop in chip bowl in the arm rest. He used the bowl to keep his poker change in. At the beginning of the night, he stood up and the chair tipped over, spilling all his change onto the floor. He picked it all up and we played for a few hours. By the end of the night, he could stand up and the chair didn’t tip over. LOL We still talk about that Thanksgiving and how we “helped” him with his problem.
We always celebrate Thanksgiving the day after, because my husband and I work in retail. We have to travel home, so we drink lots of coffee and green tea when we get off work to prepare for our journey! I know it’s not a tradition, but I just love arriving to my parents house. Everything just falls into place, and I feel so comfy!! My mother always cooks for us and I go home feeling 100 pounds heavier. My stomach is full, but so is my heart
I am a college student so I am just thankful to be able to come home to family and friends to celebrate the holiday!!! My hometown holds a holiday parade the night before Thanksgiving and we have actually been able to walk in it with our (not so little) little Collie. And of course there is my mother’s amazing cooking and desserts that I can’t wait for! Love you and can’t wait to see you Mom, Dad and Justin!!!
Being a family of Aggies living in Austin and surrounded by Longhorn neighbors – our tradition is to watch Aggies vs Longhorns football. We therefor give Thanks when/if Aggies win just that game – all the rest are “practice”. I suppose this tradition might come to an end this year – time to find a new one.
My family tradition started with my gradmother that came here from Sicily. Yes, she is Sicilian and the best cook I know. She makes prime rib, homemade raviolis and gnocchis, and an array of homemade pies. The best memories I have is of my family in the kitchen cooking every holiday. My grandmother has since fallen ill and no longer cooks for us anymore, but my mother taught my daughters (17 & 13) to cook and they are going to try to keep the tradition alive this year by making the raviolis and gnocchis themselves. I can’t wait! I think the best things in life are seeing traditions through generations. I know my grandmother is going to be proud to hear her grandchildren pick-up her traditions that were handed down from her grandmother. I know it’s odd not to have Turkey, but I love the celebration of traditions handed-down through generations. Passing the rolling-pin for Thanksgiving!
Every Thanksgiving, we get up early and watch my husband play football in a “Turkey Bowl”. Players chip in for a scholarship fund of one of their hockey buddies that passed away from cancer. Everyone plays and families attend. Then we go home and ake dinner. This year, they are switching to hockey since most of the guys are over 40 and can not walk the next day since they are so full of aches and pain from the game. Great and fun to watch though….and a nice tradition for the kids.
Every year is the same. I spend a small fortune at the grocery and cook way too much for my small family. I usually begin the day before breaking up bread for the dressing. Thanksgiving morning is spent getting the turkey prepped, making deviled eggs,dressing, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole and figuring out how I am going to get all these casseroles baked in one oven. I enjoy having wine while I am cooking, takes the stress out of the holiday. I put the turkey in and when it is done everything else goes in. Then have to remember the dried onions to put on the beans when they are almost done and the marshmallows on the sweet potato casserole and remember the broiler is on(take them out before smoke starts billowing out the cracks of the oven door). After a day of cooking, the table set just right, everyone sits down to eat. Aah, off my feet and another glass of wine. In 10 minutes everyone is done! The only thing I am thinking of is where in the hell am I going to put all of these leftovers? I have plastic containers that appear to be all the same size but they have lids that are all different. It takes 3 or 4 tries to find the right lid. More wine! After all is cleared and put away, I am thinking I have to get up at 3:00am for Black Friday shopping so I better get to bed by 9:00. Sounds good. Then my daughter reminds me that tonight we are going to shop the pre-Black Friday deals like last year. We usually don’t have a clue what we are shopping for or what to get for anyone, we just like the atmosphere. First stop, Starbucks with a shot of espresso! But since we live in Florida and it will probably be a humid night, a nice chilled glass of mint and honey sweet leaf sounds just right!
Our entire extended family gathers at my grandmother’s house every year for Thanksgiving. We have many traditions but our best tradition is that every year we sign the tablecloth. We are on our second tablecloth now, having already filled the first with wonderful memories. There are funny notes, serious notes and babies’ hands traced all over (and some puppy paw prints too!) The cloths are so special because it documents that every year we came together as a family. Everyone loves reading all the notes from the past years while we eat. Hopefully this year my note can read, “I contributed to the feast this year by winning us delicious Sweet Leaf Tea! Happy T-Giving, Clare 2011″
My brother, parents and I all swap houses between the holidays (one does Thanksgiving, one Christmas Eve, and one Christmas) and the host cooks most of the meal – but then we’ll chip in. Mostly on Thanksgiving I try to convince my brother how delicious sweet potatoes are. Whether that be by convincing him that they’re pumpkin pie – mashed, making them as dessert-y (yes! that’s a word!) as possible by whipping them into a foofy casserole, or just making a moan-worthy sweet potato pie. I’ve almost got him to come over to the dark side. Unfortunately, now that I converted him (nearly), I found out my new boyfriend is a devout hater of the sweet ‘taters… so I have to start all over again with the convincing!! Oi!
Often my birthday will land on Thanksgiving. Most of my fond memories as a child was having the turkey as the cake. I’m not complaining frosting wasn’t my thing so it all worked out. I don’t mind sharing my birthday when it often involves a feast
Our Thanksgiving tradition with my moms side of the family is a little different. Thanksgiving day is normally spent with other sides of the family then the following day we all get together to celebrate. We have never had “traditional” Turkey Day meals, but always do something a little different, which I think makes it even more special. Over the years we have had mexican fiestas, hot dog roasts, fish frys, casseroles, and soup bars. Even though we never have a traditional Thanksgiving it is my favorite gathering that I look forward to the most.
Playing football in the front yard to work off all that turkey
We would get up and watch the parade and then start cooking. While the “bird” is in the oven, we would go outside and put up all the Christmas decorations. It was a good way to pass the time while the meal was cooking. After dinner, when it got dark, we would light up everything out there.
It seems like once the Thanksgiving meal is over, the Christmas season begins and the flip of the switch to those outside lights really kicks things off!
Just sitting here at the computer drinking my fav Mint & Honey Green Tea when your Sweet Leaf email arrived. Hmm, started thinking about holidays -Wow!..have I really become the great-grandma? Remembering Thanksgivings past – no microwave, no football or Macy’s Parade-No TV! But we did have the turkey & stuffing, riced potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauces, pumpkin pie and English plum pudding, shared with a few aunts, uncles & cousins. After becoming overstuffed, some of us who could stretched out on the floor with the dog and cat, visited, played games. Simple times as an only child in New England. This year, let’s all have a simply happy peaceful Thanksgiving.
We don’t do the classic american dishes. Instead my mom makes Salvadoran turkey sandwiches-and ohhh man are they epic. Then we top it off with some tres leches cake and some strong coffee.
I think the best part of Thanksgiving is being grateful for the things we have. I’m so thankful for my family and being able to spend the day with them with great food on the table. I enjoy baking desserts to go with the turkey dinner, like pumpkin pie and pumpkin pie cheesecake! As well as waking up early Friday morning to start Christmas shopping and finding great deals on gifts for others! Thanksgiving is about being thankful for what we have and reminds us that Christmas is the season of giving!
We start out by going to my Moms who always prepares the turkey and dressing and all of us kids each brings a dish. We eat and talk about old times. Then later on that evening we sit off for my husband’s kinfolks house where we bring a dish eat again. Whew!! by then we are defintely stuffed!! There are more little ones here. They are all running around. Really fun. All in all it is a great day!! To give thanks for the things that we have.
My mother-in-law makes a wonderful meal every year and she is a baker also. She makes “turkey” cakes to decorate the table and then each kiddo gets to eat one. The best tradition is the sharing of the vino. The gang likes their wine and about 6 years ago mother-in-law got a little too tipsy and put olives on finger. While we were eating dinner, she waved olive covered fingers and kept talking about how “juicy” the turkey was? We laughed so hard. Now it is a yearly tradition to put out black and green olives for her to enjoy?
The first time I ever tried sweet leaf tea I was roaming the streets of Boston during an internship I acquired this past summer. Being an city boy growing up in sout Detroit with a love for iced tea I instantly fell in love grandmas sweet leaf iced tea, The organic blend of tea with raspberry was an instant hit among other flavors. I’m now back in Detroit and have a local store that carries Sweet Leaf on a weekly basis due to the fact that once it hits the shelf every Tuesday morning they are gone by the end of the day.
Mazen Ghamlouch
Detroit, MI
Well, I was born and raised, along with one sister, in Texas and was blessed by God. He put us right at the gates of the Hill Country, Kyle, Texas, and we built out house there in 1968. My Daddy was accountant and my Mama was a psychiatric nurse and growing up where, and when, we did was the greatest blessing in the world. My Mama was born and raised in Colorado City, TX, about 8 hours from Kyle, and her parents would come to our home or we would go to theirs over Thanksgiving. My Daddy lost his parents fairly early and we were not able to get to know them very well. In our house, always, was a big pitcher of tea in the ‘frige. It was a sin to take the last of it and not make more. I use my Mama’s recipe still, 6 teabags steeped 6 minuntes in a big pitcher of water. I’ve never been much into sun tea though. It would make her happy to open the door to the ‘frige on an August afternoon and see a sparkling pitcher of tea on hand. Sometimes we’d get really fancy and have lemons in it and always there was the mint that grew at the point near the air conditioner where the water always dripped.
I lost my Mama 17 years ago, very suddenly. she was just 59 years old and I was 37. Our children were then Joseph, 5, and Kyle, 2 (yes, he is named after my hometown in TExas) She did not live to see the granddaughter she had longed for, Hannah Joy, who was born two years after Mama died. But, Hannah looks just like my Mama and has a great taste for ice tea, too.
So, for me, ice tea goes along with Mama and Texas and the greatest music in the world (Steve Earle was raised right near Austin, too, and remains my greatest musical hero). And, until I had Sweet Leaf, I’d not had bottled tea that was as good as my Mama’s. I miss her everyday of my life, our Thanksgivings and holidays and the love our family shared. Memories of Thanksgiving in Texas are always coloured with Christmas lights that couldn’t be waited to be put up, vanilla and almond candles, turkey cooked just so, and always pecan pie for my sister and pumpkin for me, always baked by our grandfather. Happy Thanksgiving to All.
Thanksgiving morning my husband and his friends gather at the local junior high school football field and play each other in a game of football they like to call the turkey bowl.
This group of 35 year old men still think they are 18. They beat the heck out of each other. The rest of my thanksgiving is spent hearing about how every one of his body parts is cut, scrapped, bleeding, bruised, etc.!!
I am a retail manager for over twenty years.I started a tradition of football early thanksgiving morning for members of my staff. We have been playing for around fifteen years with a changing crew. We have an awesome time and are home by eleven to enjoy the day.
Our Thanksgiving always starts with a breakfast strata, coffee, coffee cake and the Macy’s Parade. Once breakfast is done we start on the Turkey and all the fixings. It is truly a family centered day at our house.
I am a Mashed Potato & Pumpkin Pie connoisseur. Not put together like a pie made of potato bits but every year I have my own tradition of making sure that both are top notch. My car ride to my aunt’s house Thanksgiving day is rich with buttery hints of garlic that’s been mashed to an inch of it’s life and nutmeg with pumpkin spice making my mouth water. One year the family insisted that I allow my Uncle’s mother to bring the pie, which ended up store bought and unsatisfying. They haven’t made that mistake since :].
My Dad’s favorite tradition, silly as it is (and kinda gross), is right before putting the turkey in the oven (at 5:30 IN THE MORNING!), is to stick his hand inside the turkey and make it fly around the house, waking all of us up with his best turkey gobble! I love it and wait for it every year!
Wwe do Turkey Handprints every year. We started in 2006 on our first son’s first Thanksgiving and he has done one every year since. In July our second son was born, and this year he’ll do his first handprint – the teeniest one we’ve ever done! It’s amazing to see how much a little hand can grow in just five years’ time…
When I lived in NY, every year rain,snow or shine,my parents, brother and I would get up super early and take the train into NYC to go see the parade. We would stop and get hot cocoa and find a good spot to stand. After the parade, we would get a snack and head home to a wonderful home cooked meal by my grandma. Those were the good ole days.
Now, my kids and I make our desserts the day before and we head to my parents house the day of. We watch the parade on tv like most people and eat pie with whipped cream waiting for dinner to be ready.
Our Thanksgiving tradition, when our children were young & I did the cooking was to invite someone over for dinner that we knew had no family in the Austin area. Now that our children are married, we spend Thanksgiving with our son & his wife, wherever they live. This year it is in Tampa. I just found out that our son is keeping our tradition by inviting some of his employees who have no family in Tampa to spend the holiday with all of us.
We get together with family and have the traditional Thanksgiving meal (yummy!) and share what we are most thankful for.
After a big Thanksgiving Day meal (and a whole lot of Tryptophan!!), my whole family usually feels like taking a nap. However, a few years ago we started a new tradition. After dinner and the clean-up, we all sit down at the table to play Cranium. It is a great game that really brings us all together. We keep the same teams year to year and the winners getting bragging rights for the whole year!! My sister and I have never won, but hopefully this year will be OUR year. Can’t wait for next Thursday!
We have a traditional Thanksgiving meal, with the addition of ham. This year, the meal is going to be at my mom’s house. It will be the first time in about 10 years or more that we have had Thanksgiving dinner with my grandmother. The thing I like most about Thanksgiving is being with family, and the cooking. I love to cook, so it’s a lot of fun for me. My favorite part of the day, though, comes after dinner, when we all gather at mom’s house to decorate the Christmas tree. The little ones (14 of them, ranging in age from 1-13)all get special ornaments to hang on the tree, and we have music and cocoa and everybody has a good time. It’s a relaxing way to end a sometimes chaotic, stressful holiday, and it sets a tradition we have followed for many, many years, that hopefully will continue when our children are grown, and bring their own little ones to decorate the tree. We truly have a lot to be thankful for!
Well unfortunately I have no family tradition to look forward to this year. My family use to go to my Grandmothers and have a family feast that would make your mouth water. After dinner we would all go to the family room where we would help my Grandmother put up a White Christmas Tree with Blue Christmas Bulbs and Red Garland. This may seem odd to some, but it was a beautiful tree. My Grandmother always told us she decorated a tree this color to honor those fallen that served our country. She is gone now and this year I will be spending Thanksgiving and Christmas alone and the thought has been a little depressing, but I would like to thank Sweet Leaf Tea for reminding me of this wonderful memory that has brightened my day. Sweet Leaf Tea Organic Lemonade is the Best. I have it special ordered in to my local grocery whenever I can afford to treat myself to an extra special treat.
Celebrating Thanksgiving at my grandmothers house is always one of my favorite times. Of course there’s the food to look forward to, but then there’s the family members and stories that make it pretty enjoyable. Every year, My dad, mom, brother, sister and I go over to cook and to eat. We eat with my aunt and grandfather too. Mostly every thanksgiving its the same thing. My dad eats pretty much anything in the house, and sits in a complete daze while watching football like it’s the most important thing in the world. My mom runs frantically back and forth checking food and making sure everything turns out right. My younger brother sits quietly, while my little sister has the energy level of the duracell bunny. She can talk and talk for hours on end, even if the person she is talking to says nothing. She talks about her whole life, telling you about the most unimportant things possible while most of us have to block her out after awhile. My grandmother literally asks you 20 times if you want potato salad. I don’t even like potato salad but I say yes because if I don’t she keeps asking. So that’s our celebration in a nutshell.
Well thanksgiving is defiantly my favorite holiday with all the yummy food and drinks. Every thanksgiving my family and friends go down to our lake house for a fun filled day. We fry turkeys and cook all the delicious food all day. By the time we sit down to eat the actual meal everyone is full from picking at all the food we were making throughout the day. My favorite part is sitting outside after a full meal relaxing and enjoying the night with a full stuffed belly!
Every year after we say grace we go around the table and everyone has to say what they are thankful for.
Thanksgiving for me is my 2nd favorite holiday, Christmas being first. Each year we have thanksgiving at my grandmas house. I am in charge or setting the table and printing out place cards so everyone know where to sit. Everyone brings a dish. The latest dilemma has been the lack of mince meat pie. It’s my dads favorite but you can’t find it anymore so this year my grandma is making one from scratch!
Every Thanksgiving, me and my three kids go kayaking. While my wife and her sister make dinner, we grab the kayaks and off we go. We live in Coastal Georgia, so the weather is usually warm. Each year we kayak a different trail on the ocean, river, or canal. One year, we went down the Brunswick-Altamaha Canal and saw a white owl, beavers, and deer.
marya alay said:
11/15/2011 @ 6:10 pm
On thanksgiving day i wish i can cook a big turkey so i can feed my 7 boys but is sad because i work and what i do is i just take them to the church they gave us free meal and my sons love it or sometimes people just invite me a little bit of thier food my sons ask me already if i going to cook but i told them no because i going to work half day and i also i won’t have any money left but we’ll see what god will send us for that day thank you
My mother was the world’s greatest cook and she made so much food for every holiday we always had plenty for everyone plus lots of leftovers. So our holiday tradition was to enjoy that food and get stuffed, just like the turkey!
Watch the Macy’s Parade on the couch with the kids before starting dinner for all of the family.
For the past several years, my brother and I have watched Edward Scissorhands at the end of the Thanksgiving Day. There are no exceptions to this rule – we always watch it together while eating leftover turkey and whatever-else sandwiches. We have gone to great lengths to keep this tradition going – in 2007, while I was studying overseas, we watched it over Skype. Even with the spotty internet connection, we upheld the Scissorhands tradition and it will always reign as one of the greatest experiences shared with my brother. Because of Edward Scissorhands, and what that movie means to me and my brother, Thanksgiving has become the greatest time of the year.
from the movie-”Sweetheart, you can’t buy the necessities of life with cookies”
- The great thing about this quote is that on Thanksgiving all the necessities of life are cookies.
My favorite tradition on Thanksgiving has to do with my grandma’s famous homemade glazed donuts. She only makes a small batch each year so its first come first serve. Of course, Uncle Bobby (the favorite) always seems to get donuts so I make it a point of getting to Grandma’s as early as possible to text him pictures of me enjoying the donuts!! If he beats me, he does the same!
My favorite tradition is the food! We have a lot of dishes that we have only one time each year. It’s a day for everyone to enjoy their favorites, without any guilt! And, since I’m from the north and married a guy from the south, Thanksgiving is also a time to explore new cultures. If you’ve never had the stuffing vs. dressing conversation in your house, you’re missing out!
Every thanksgiving I work until about 3pm. My mom actually starts prepping the food she is going to make 3 days ahead. Picking out fresh pork to roast and marinade for the upcoming days, A whole chicken, buffalo wings, fruit that we will cut for the fresh fruit salad, and vegetables galore(as if string beans, salad, corn on the Cobb, creamed corn, and broccolini aren’t enough)lol. I brine the turkey every year in an apple sage mix and pray it comes out all brown and toasty as it does in the movies. Our tradition yearly is to break out the wii and play some just dance or one of the many karaoke games we have. It’s gives you a nice break from cooking. One more tradition is all the men leave the room to the basement to watch the game leaving all of us females to clean up, lol. In between breaks they help tidy up though. We have tons of fun!
Everyone cooks at our house for Thanksgiving & everyone cleans. I love this tradition because we all share in the labor of love. We have a great time making a mess, sharing a meal, thanking God for all, scarfing down our goods, cleaning, & watching football & parades. I cannot wait to see what new dishes show up this year!
My tradition around Feast Time, Thanksgiving, is always full warm, hearty family traditions: smelling mama’s amazing cooking the night before, then watching her masterfully put it all together. This would also include drop-ins by various family members with smiles and news about gathering. It all comes together when we meet collectively at a planned location filled with lively and loving conversation. We eat, have a merry time, then disperse or hang out as family.
So, for the past years, since my sisters have been married, we all gather at my mom’s house at the begining of November to discuss what we are all going to cook this year for the Turkey Feast. I have three sisters and the oldest of us girls, always declares in preparing the turkey. The sister after her has chosen different dishes throughout the years. I, one year, made a pecan pie, or at least attempted to bake one, only to burn it up..(luckily, there is a great BBQ restaurant that double-ups in having them for the holidays, and I had one of theirs for back up. The last and youngest of us girls, sits there and tries to discuss all of the other dishes no one chose to bring and proceeds how cool it would be to make something that’ll make everyone go ‘oooh and ahhh’. We all sit there nervous because she doesn’t know how to really “cook” but one dish. She then makes up her mind to the old same dish she always makes, green bean casserole. We sigh in relief…but worry ourselves to death thinking that this is gonna be the year she tries to feed us some concoction that she made up. Then we always reply the obligatory remarks about how good it is…which it is, because there is nothing to it, lol. After grace at the dinner table, she makes sure that EVERYONE has a serving of her famous green bean casserole. Then if guests stop by, she walks up to them and is like, “Try green bean casserole, I made it!”
Happy Thanksgiving!
Monica
San Antonio, TX
…and a moment of silence for the turkeys :[
My family and I watch the thanksgiving parade, but as we do, we start cooking at 6AM. It’s my mom and me since I’m an only child. We cook EVERYTHING, starting with the turkey (it’s my tradition to throw the turkey insides at my dad because he doesn’t help), and we continue making green bean casserole, pumpkin pie, sweet potatoes, potatoes, stuffing. And, it’s a tradition now to serve cake batter ice cream with the pie because when we first started our tradition of making thanksgiving dinner, we forgot the ice cream and had to run to the store and all what was left was cake batter ice cream. Finally, the last part of the tradition is to make pumpkin smores (s’mores with pumpkin pie filling) when we’re done with the event at the very very end of the night (10/11 ish )
Hey Clayton and David!
Every year on Thanksgiving we go on a roadtrip to visit the family and its super fun. When we get there we all hang out and play games, eat, and watch the Parade!
I love it because all the family come together and eats dinner together.I love to cook a lot of the same food my Mom cooked for me when I was a kid for my family.Our Home burned down in the Bastrop Texas wild fires.And I am greatful that my family including my pets all made it out safly,It started very close to our home.all though we will just be having it in this duplex we are renting,I am looking foward to being with the family and greatful we are all together.
My family has one very important Thanksgiving tradition–the goodie basket. When my grandma sets the table, she always includes a “basket” at each place setting. The actual container has ranged from true mini baskets, to paper bags, to terracotta pots and aluminum watering cans (she is an avid gardener). However, the contents are always more or less the same–Hershey’s miniatures, some of Grandpa’s favorite hard candies, and the most holy of holies–a lottery ticket.
Now, several rules of etiquette surround the goodie basket. In the first place, you may not start evaluating your candy until AFTER dinner. Secondly, lottery tickets cannot be scratched until AFTER dessert. At that time, everyone scratches with a Grandpa-provided penny. Typically, we have around 1-2 winners, either of another lottery ticket, or a buck or two, which leads us to the final rule … who gets the prizes. In most households, the bearer of the ticket keeps the prize, but not in ours. For us, the winnings go to the youngest person at the table (well, youngest after those who are too little to care about dollars/lottery tickets). This meant that my brother was often the recipient of the winnings in the past, although I occasionally cut into his prizes with sheer cuteness. Now, however, we are both adults, and my older cousin has two children, so the new little girls get the prize money.
Of course, everyone knows that if either of my grandparents win the jackpot, my college loans will disappear. Not exactly a “traditional” rule, but one I rather appreciate, anyway.
Sadly, all of our traditions revolve around food. But with it being Thanksgiving that should be expected. The turkey always has to be a “Butterball”, and then my mom would actually stuff its cavity with stuffing.To make it worse , she felt it was not true stuffing unless chestnuts were including in the stuffing. Horrible waxy things. Now my dad had to have his favorite side dish, creamed onions. Needless to say not many others would partake of that delicacy. The bird is good, the rest makes me shudder, so my current family and I eat out.
We watch the Thanksgiving Parade on TV. It’s not the same as actually being there when I was a kid growing up in NYC, but it always brings back memories. After the parade is over, we start preparing dinner with the traditional sides like cranberry sauce made from fresh cranberries and baked sweet potatoes with maple syrup.
My family has two words in mind every Thanksgiving..’Grandma’s Dumplings’!!
I always make cranberry bread around Thanksgiving time. I use fresh cranberries and all-fresh ingredients to make the bread, oh, make that breads!!
It’s too popular to make just one – I make two, as the first one disappears almost as soon as it comes out of the oven. Then we have one for the next day, which usually goes pretty fast, too.
I like to have it for breakfast with black coffee, and sometimes for an afternoon snack with some chilled tea. Just writing this is making me pine for some right now! I will be making it in the early part of next week, as a warm-up to all that eating that we will be doing on Thanksgiving!
My family sits at the dinner table and we hold hands and everybody says what they are thankful for and then we dig in!!
Every thanksgiving day there’s always crazy situations we find ourselves in like my mother getting up at 3am to make her famous rice and beans and tamales but we always end up in the same place my mothers parents house only used for thanksgiving and Christmas Dinners we leave two seats open one for grandpa and one for my Grammy we always seem to being them up in our conversation it’s something we have done ever since they left near or far our joins together for that special day and eat tamales beans rice turkey and pumpkin pie.
HAND TURKEYS! i am 38 years old and everyone has to make hand turkeys (if someone resists too much or is busy- we trace their hand and whatever kids are present and i start coloring! the hand turkeys are used as place cards for an early seam splitting dinner at which friends are invited and family are present. viva la hand turkey!
Our family Thanksgiving tradition might be a little different from other families. My parents were both born and raised in Korea so they didn’t really learn the significance of Thanksgiving until after they moved here around 20 years ago. Even though it’s been that long they still don’t do the typical Thanksgiving day feast that many people do. At our house there in no turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, gravy… every year we have steak and rice. Sounds weird but I actually enjoy this a lot more than turkey and mashed potatoes.
A tradition I want to carry was one I was introduced to when I celebrated Thanksgiving with my friend and her family. Her family and extended family celebrate the dinner separately. Then, they come together at her house to share pie and other desserts. We then spend our time playing a family game afterwards. Finally, we shared word(s) of what we wanted everyone in the room to experience for the year (for example, “I want to wish everyone peace.”). I felt this gesture was a great way to, not only express gratitude for others, but, to give them something to take when they leave.
I almost always have to work Thanksgiving, so our family celebrates the Sunday before. I think I enjoy it because it isn’t a huge production. Very low key, just a meal that brings us all to sit down and enjoy each others’ company. The only requirement? PIE! Apple and pumpkin, mmmmmm.
Mom would always make a LOT of cookies. I would sneak in the basement or the garage, wherever Mom put them, with a half gallon of milk, and eat till my run-yum hurt!
I can honestly say that my family never had a true thanksgiving tradtion, we kind of just go with the flow. Many of years I awake to the smell of delicious turkey in the oven and the loud cheers of my mother about how she just saw Santa on the thanksgiving day parade(yes my mom beleives in santa). After hours of salavating all across the kitchen, dinner is served and were all stuffed to the brim. Once the food settles in and dessert is past due we play endless hours of uno and monopoly, which becomes very competitive. This is the way it seems to go down every year. I guess you could call it tradition but I see it as creating great memories:)
This will be our first Thanksgiving without my grandmother. We always looked forward to our trips to GA to spend it with my parents and grandparents however last Thanksgiving we moved it to our house because it was the first Thanksgiving without Granddad and we wanted it to be easier on Grandma.We lost Grandmom 2 days before the one year anniversary of my granddad passing away. This year we will be having Thanksgiving at my house with my parents. I am so Thankful to have had my grandparents for over 40 years. I hope if you still have your grandparents to spend Thanksgiving with that you make sure to let them know how much it means to spend this special holiday together.
It never fails. Every year we ask our grandma the same question. What does she put in her mashed potatoes that is so good? We’ll all smile as she rattles off the ingredients. Then say, “No that’s not it.” Then she’ll look confused and start to tell us how she made it. And we’ll say, “No, that’s not it either. You know what I taste? I think there’s some love in these mashed potatoes.” Suddenly, my grandma’s confused face will break into a smile. She’ll get all embarrassed and tell us we’re ridiculous. It happens every year. Even though her memory isn’t as good as it used to be, she always remembers to put a little love in her cooking. Happy Thanksgiving!
I have always loved the parade and now my husband lets me watch from bed and take it easy in the morning. Then we are off to eating with one side of the family where it is all of the usual and wonderfully delicious items that you would suspect. Kids everywhere and the Cowboy game on the tv. Then, we have our annual “Turkey Bowl” football game where the teams are divided by age … young vs old or as we call it “beauty vs brains”. We switched last year’s bowl game to a “lawn chair tennis” game because we kept having too many injuries. Then we watch the ‘Horns play the Ags and sometimes follow that up with a ping-pong tourney and dessert. We work up quite a thirst!
My Nana may be British but she’s always celebrating thanksgiving and always making the Yorkshire puddings.
I make pumpkin cheesecake! and we eat the whole darn thing!
Even though I usually work it, Thanksgiving is one of my favorite days. I am not much of a cook so really appreciate friends that invite me over or stop by the office with a traditional dinner.
As a low ranking civil servant working a 24/7/365 job I really enjoy being there to help people when needed. People get so stressed when things go awry so hopefully I can calm them down & get someone out to help resolve the situation. The first 7 years I ended up calling out the lead sewer crew worker (unfortunately usually just as he sat down to his families Thanksgiving dinner)as that is an unfortunate element of the holiday. Although I felt bad interupting his celebration with his family I enjoyed the fact he never complained, he just said “don’t feel bad, you know, it is just what we signed up for when we took the job so I don’t mind.” As government has lost sight of their purpose, I really miss that comradery of serving the public & hope it returns. I really appreciated his help & attitude. I also enjoy sending a thanks for giving Thanksgiving e-mail to those that shared that attitude.
Every since I can remember, Thanksgiving at my dad’s house has been filled with lots of laughter and bellies full of smoked turkey.
Our best Thanksgiving tradition is called “The Ray Turkey Wing Showdown.”
The Ray Turkey Wing Showdown started when I was around 10 years old. My great grandma would always steal 1 wing off the smoked turkey before dinner was served. My sisters and I (4 of us total) would fight at the dinner table to reach the other wing while the other adults laughed at us as we scrambled to pull the last wing off.
The last Thanksgiving we celebrated with our great grandma before she passed away, she stole both of the wings off the smoked turkey and covered the turkey up with foil. We all sat down to eat after praying over the food, my dad lifted to foil off the turkey and the turkey was wingless. Great grandma burst into laughter and said I guess we know who won “The Ray Turkey Wing Showdown” this year.
22 years later my sisters and I still fight over the smoked turkey wings…our youngest sister is the reigning champ, but I have a little something up my sleeve for this year “great grandma style.”
Dalphne Ray
Ex-Austinite/Living in Dallas
Lover of smoked turkey wings
My families thanksgiving tradition is to cook and bake together. My mother takes off a day of work and we bake more pies and deserts than there are people’s at the holidays! We catch up on what we’ve missed, and enjoy things that we don’t normally have around the house. We have to have oreo’s in the house or else the holiday would not be complete! This year, I am thankful having found an iced tea that tastes like actual iced tea!!
I am the biggest kid of all. I love to watch the Macy’s parade on Thursday morning and every year I cannot wait to see the Snoopy float. But when this big kid decided to buy a house with another big kid, it was always a dream of ours to invite our families for a nice holiday dinner. So, of course, 2 days before Thanksgiving, we were still painting walls and putting up tile on our kitchen backsplash, the family started trickling in. What were we thinking…So 24 hours later 20+ bodies RSVP’d as they walked thru the door. Our newly remodeled home turned into a Partridge Family bus.
The next day as I slaved in the kitchen to make 10 or so dishes, all I could think about was the awesome food I would get to consume in a while. I was asked questions left and right because we had barely moved in so I didn’t even know my own kitchen. Finally, the time for wine and dine came along and as I took my first few bites, my mom asked me if I knew where my boyfriend was. At that point, I felt words were interfering with my meal. Then I heard “babe” and I remember rolling my eyes and bitchly said “what.” I turn around and see a sign that says “will you have my hand in marriage?” As I cried, I think a chunk came out of my mouth. I was so surprised because I soooo did not expect it. Later, we drank and played cards, had a backyard fire and for the kids, let them kill a Spongebob pinata. And why, because we’re Mexican.
The best part of that Thanksgiving was not the proposal, but still keeping the traditions. Every year on Thanksgiving eve, my mom would let me help her make homemade stuffing with our hands and stuff the turkey. And my brother, trying to dare my other brother to take a bite of the turkey’s bag of jewels that my mom would clean out of the cavity. I love my family and I would not change a thing. So next year, on Black Friday, my fiancee and I will tie the knot. My mom thinks we should serve leftovers.
Oh, how I miss the Grand Thanksgiving feast with the traditional scrumptious dishes (i.e., turkey, ham, pecan pie, green bean casserole, and of course the always present hot sauce and chips). Now I’ve stepped away momentarily from the Grand feast to become a transplant in California. However, I now have a new celebration to enjoy during Thanksgiving week, my husband’s and mine–our wedding anniversary. We may be without the unforgettable meal, but at least we’ll have each other to be thankful for.
When I was younger my dad used to take my brother & I to the Houston Thanksgiving parade every year, as we grew older we just watched it from home. This year will be different though, I am 9 months pregnant after trying for 4 years!! So more than likely I will be in the hospital, but of course I will have the biggest thing to be thankful for, my baby boy!! I also want to thank you guys for making your “Mint & Honey” green tea that I drank all through my pregnancy & I am highly addicted to!!!!
We have our friends over for Brunch in the morning that way we can celebrate our friendship on Thanksgiving. Then it gives everyone the chance to have Thanksgiving dinner with their own families.
Our tradition? Runnin in the snow (if there is some) and dreaming about the next holiday, Chiristmas, which brings jelly covered Christmas weenies. Yum!
We watch the Macys parade on TV in the morning. And start baking desserts and chopping other ingredients. Start serious cooking and tea drinking around lunch, and eat our turkey for dinner. Wash it down with tea, of course.
We have no real traditions except for cookin’ and waitin’ for food! But, I do have a favorite Thanksgiving memory…
A 11 years ago, my husband had to work on Thanksgiving. He’d be done and home by dinner. I cooked and baked to make a perfect meal for our 1st Thanksgiving! I set our ‘table’ in front of the TV on our coffee table …what can I say? We like to watch ‘our’ shows! It was set with wedding gift china and stemware. My pretty settings had fall placemats, napkins, and turkey napkin rings.
It was the BEST Thanksgiving ever! I guess, we did end up with traditions: Andy looks forward to the food and I look forward to seeing his happy ‘food face’ every year! Our twins are almost 3. I can’t wait to see the happy ‘food face’ on them!
We have no real traditions except for cookin’ and waitin’ for food! But, I do have a favorite Thanksgiving memory…
11 years ago, my husband had to work on Thanksgiving. He’d be done and home by dinner. I cooked and baked to make a perfect meal for our 1st Thanksgiving! I set our ‘table’ in front of the TV on our coffee table …what can I say? We like to watch ‘our’ shows! It was set with wedding gift china and stemware. My pretty settings had fall placemats, napkins, and turkey napkin rings.
It was the BEST Thanksgiving ever! I guess, we did end up with traditions: Andy looks forward to the food and I look forward to seeing his happy ‘food face’ every year! Our twins are almost 3. I can’t wait to see the happy ‘food face’ on them!
I miss my Ma. Somehow her turkey, stuffing, mashed potato pancakes, yams, salad, cranberry juice, and pecan pie tasted far better than anything I cooked up so far. I guess her secret ingredient of a mother’s love is missing from the recipe’s I use.
Is it just my family or is it not Thanksgiving unless you have the cranberry sauce with the ring impressions from the can, the green bean casserole made from the recipe either on the onion ring or the mushroom soup cans, “regular” stuffing–none of that oyster or chestnut stuff — all followed by a pick up soccer game!
My family is very small. It is my husband and my two boys. We live in Texas. We do not have any family close to us. My mother in law, who is like my mother, comes to visit us every Thanksgiving. One may think, your mother-in-law?? Yes! She is literally the sweetest, loving, most kind lady I know. Her and I stay up cooking the night before Thanksgiving, and then we cook and do dishes the next day together. It is GREAT fun! Her name is Sunny and she brings sunshine to our home. She is like my Angel sent from heaven when I am lonely during the holidays.
The three F’s FAMILY, FOOD, and FOOTBALL.
You better have your SweetLeaf Mint and Honey in case your honney make that Thanksgiving dinner not so yammy…Happy Holidays!
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is simply gathering with friends and family for a day devoted to community. It’s not about food, football, or parades (though we enjoy all three), it’s a time to slow down and enjoy quality time together with the people you love.
As a child, growing up thanksgiving morning was ALWAYS the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV. Then “helping” mom cook was to follow, but that really meant sneaking tastes of whatever she was making and driving her crazy. After a meal at Grandma’s house with the extended family, dad would always lay down for a nap in front of the TV with the NFL game blaring. I’d pull out my baby blanket, which I carried with me everywhere as a child, and cover my dad up with it. Now, as an adult living in Austin, I haven’t been able to travel home for Thanksgiving in years. I still watch the parade and cook, but I miss the days of family meals and making fun of dad napping with a pink blanket covering him.
We wake up early & watch the Philadelphia parade in bad then head to either my grandmom house or my inlaws for dinner then head tp the other for dessert. Its all about family! This year we have a newborn &I we r excited to pass our tradition on tp him
to wake up on thankgiving turn on the tv to watch the parades,then at 11am flamily and freinds start to arive to the smell the brid and pies being made.then at 12 football comes on.the men grather to watch the laides gather together and talk.then at 4pm theres a yell saying come and get it. oh but don,t forget the sweet leaf.
We start Thanksgiving day snuggling in bed (hubby and I) and sharing what one thing we are most thankful for from the past year (since LAST Thanksgiving). Then we get up, leaving our PJs on all day LOL, and start cooking our vegetarian feast! We watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade while chopping potatoes, tearing bread, shredding cheese, etc. We cook our Quorn Turk’y Roasts and all other goodies during the rest of the parade. After the parade, we feast on our yummies in bed and watch “Christmas Vacation,” which is the movie we saw on our first date back in 1990! All in all, its one of our favorite days of the year! For the next few days, we feast on left-overs!
When I was growing up Thanksgiving was one of the big holidays where we actually would eat in the dining room. My grandfather being the great cook that he was would make quite the feast. Since he was born in Naples Italy we would always start off with fresh Ravioli in a bright tomato sauce. His home made meatballs were always with them. After that was stuffed artichokes that were stuffed with 3 different cheeses. The actual feast was all the American favorites including Turkey with two different stuffings. One was a bread stuffing and the other a sausage stuffing. We also had the usual sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, mushrooms, salad and other assorted vegetables. Dessert was always a few pies such as pumpkin and apple but to make it Italian we would also have Italian cookies from a nearby Italian bakery. My big job as a child was to make the jello and the whipped cream. The other great thing about our Thanksgivings when I was young was that someone from the family would always stop by to get some of my Grandfathers meatballs. Either my grandmother Mimi’s brother would stop by or my Aunt, Uncle and cousins would come up from Virginia. But it was always for my grandfathers food. He is gone now but his memory lives on in his famous recipe that we all have.
It is a well known family secret that I am a pretty terrible cook. Every year I have attempted to make one of the side dishes and it turns out to be somewhere between compost and edible. Until I started making desserts.
For the past 3 years I’ve been making Thankgiving inspired cheesecakes (cranberry, pumpkin, sweet potato, etc) and they’ve been really well received and actually taste… good! So now, finally, I feel like I am actually contributing something to the meal instead of pity!
Since we’re a big Hispanic family, Thanksgiving is a time of a lot of food and drinks. So, we plan on starting Turkey Day at 2 p.m. but it always seems to be a couple of hours after that. People start arriving and the turkey is still cooking! So, we drink wine, munch on appetizers and wait until the bird is ready to go. Of course we eat turkey with rice and beans, tortillas and salsa. Who could ask for anything more? We break out the karaoke machine and start singing (sometimes we have to cover our ears) but we have a good time. Our Thanksgiving usually lasts all day and we have a drink, laugh and eat!
We like to watch the parade and spend the rest of the day with family and friends enjoying each others company. With everyone having such hectic schedules all of the time it’s nice to have a lazy day where there is nothing on the agenda other than being with those you love!!!
For our family, Thanksgiving is all about spending time with one another and kicking off the holiday season. After a big breakfast (it has to hold us over until our Thanksgiving feast in the afternoon, naturally), we watch the Macy’s parade, then enjoy time together until the meal preparation begins. Since no one is a big fan of turkey, we opt instead for its smaller poultry cousin, the chicken, which we’ve had both roasted and rotisseried – both options are delicious! The chicken is accompanied by more traditional Thanksgiving fare, but with a twist – much of it is gluten free to accommodate the celiac in our house – and it’s just as delicious! Even the pumpkin pie is gluten free! In the evening, after cleanup and some time relaxing, we bring our Christmas decorations in from garage so that we’re ready to hit the ground running the next morning, making the house as festive as we can for the holidays. Finally, before bed, we all gather in front of the television and wrap up the day with a cup of hot cocoa and the movie that always puts us in the holiday spirit: the classic Miracle on 34th Street. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
The first time our family celebrated Thanksgiving, my Chinese mom did not know what stuffing was so she stuffed the turkey with fried rice. Now every Thanksgiving, I always make fried rice along with the traditional stuffing in honor of my mom.
Every year we would gather at my parents house for Thanksgiving myself,husband and two boys,my brother his wife and three children just a great time for family. My father passed away September 2006 and my Grandmother just a year later.
My son who is now 21 has not been home for Thanksgiving this year will make the 4th year. He joined the Marines in 2008 and left for boot camp the week he turned 18.
Last year around this time my mother took ill and by January was diagnosed with Renal Cell Carsinoma during this time my son was deployed to Afghanistan. My mom passed away in May 4th 2011 at the age of 62 after a hard fight and a strong will to live. My son didn’t get to come to the funeral. This is my first year without either parent and I know this is going to be a tough one but, with other family members taking mine and my brothers family in everything will be good. My son will be home for Christmas…
Thanksgiving is always a celebration. But in my families case, even more. My parents were married November 25,1961. We always have an extra celebration for their anniversary. This year will be extraordinary since they are now celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. We have ordered a special cake with a wedding photo from 50 years ago on it, and are all making one of my parents favorite dishes to bring to their house this year. This tea would be another extra special touch.
When we were expecting our 1st child , Molly , we were lucky ( ? ) enough to buy a fixer-upper house. My Mom and her husband , and my sisters all came down to see our new home , and have a wonderful time together celebrating our Thanksgiving . With the frig absolutely STUFFED to capacity , all hardware stores for miles around safely closed for the holiday , the door of our frig literally FELL OFF and onto the floor . Old rusty hinges had just rotted through ! What an unforgettable time !! GLAD that’s NOT our tradition , hehe !
WE LOVE YOUR TEA AND YOUR KINDNESS OF SPIRIT ! Thanks , PJ
I was raised vegetarian so we never had a turkey. My parents created tofu cutlets which are just heaven! Tofu marinated in wonderful spices and breaded and baked. We always make my grandmothers savory sweet potato casserole too! Watching the Macy’s parade is essential and this year is especially exciting because my cousin Scott McEvoy is playing in the parade with his band! I also like going around the table and saying what we are thankful for. The holiday is all about family!
All the women, children & teens go on an approximate mile and 1/2 walk around our cousin’s big country block about an hour after dinner, No Matter what the weather. We’ve walked in the rain, snow, wind and sunshine. It was memorable the year an adult adventurous cousin had badly broken her ankle in a hiking accident the previous Summer and had rehabilitated enough on Thanksgiving to go on the walk with us. We all have wonderful conversations on the walk and we walk thier dog too!
Thanksgiving is double-good for me. We start out by going to my sisters in Houston, feasting out– then we all share funny stories from the past, or play games. Then my wife cooks our feast the next day at our home in New Waverly–Ooohhh soooo goood, both times. One of the great things about Thanksgiving is that you can truly give thanks for family and friends and totally de-stress…right before the Christmas rush comes blasting in!
My family has started a new tradition a few years ago. We invite all the in-laws’ families to join us for Thanksgiving! This year we’re looking forward to having a meal shared with over 15 loved ones. Of course, we’ll also enjoy watching the Texas vs A&M game for the last time. It’s also a great time shared over great food, great wine, and great company.
It’s simple as pie. We finish our Thanksgiving meal and head right over to Garden Ridge to begin Christmas shopping. We’ve done this for years; long before all the other stores begin opening up on Thanksgiving Day. Oh, yes…..of course, we watch Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade (a tradition since I was a child).
Thanksgiving has always centered around family and old family recipes. The front door is never locked, the cousin, in-laws (and out-laws) come in and out as their other celebrations allow. Football is always on in the living room, and the kids rotate between being glued to the tv and roaming around outside.
Generations of the women of the family work like a well oiled machine in the kitchen. Recipes that have been handed down and created anew grace a never ending buffet set up. Everything always seems to be named after someone.. Nanny’s Cake, Ma’s Chocolate Pecan Pie, Granny Grants Cranberry Salad, Kathey’s Chocolate Cake, Kayce’s Sweet Potatoes, Brenna’s Green Bean Casserole….The table is graced with the Thanksgiving trinity – the Turkey, the Ham and the Celebration Roast.
Because our way of life here in America has dramatically changed and therefore changed our beautiful Thanksgiving traditions. I still have found alot of humor on Turkey day.I have downsized my home.The kids come home from college, etc.. to my smaller home for Thanksgiving along with their husband and friends. Not alot of room in this kitchen. Anyhow I cook everyone shows up we sit down to eat. I baked 24 dinner rolls.I’m having to set food here and there up there over there everywhere.I had baked the rolls took them out of the oven put them down on a bar stool at my kitchen counter. Out of 24 there is only 6 left on the pan where are my rolls am I in the Twilight Zone? I turn around and my lovely Irish wolfhound is guiltily holding his head down. He was swallowing all the rolls in one gulp at a time as I put each batch on the stool.Also He had jumped up on he table and ate a whole bag of 3 muskateer bars at Halloween (chocolate does not kill your dog unless he consumes 100 pounds just ask Dr. Jon) heeeeeeeeeeee I’m just so glad my doggie does not like TEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Im a Tea Addict!!!
My family’s Thanksgiving tradition starts very early in the morning (for whichever family member is doing the cooking, we alternate). While the feast is being prepare it is a requirement that the Thanksgiving day parade be on TV. Even if no one is watching it, it has to be playing in the background. The delectable smells begin permeating the house while the parade goes on.
Slowly other family members begin to arrive one by one until the house is filled with turkey and veggie smells, laughter, kids screaming and tons of family members. We all just sit around watch whoever is cooking (sometimes we also deep fry a turkey which is always exciting), drink and just have a good time together.
My dad always carves the turkey and after a blessing we all line up buffet style and load up our plates.
I guess our Thanksgiving is pretty typical.
Thanksgiving!! Best tradition we had, when my grandmother was alive, we all sat around the table (every year we had to add more side tables)…eat till we had to be rolled out…lol..and that would be the day we drew names for christmas presents…now everyone has their own family…and starting their own traditions.
Every Thanksgiving, my wonderful yet absolutely nuts family gets together for dinner. My tofurkey gets plopped down next to the turkey amongs tons of other delicious food. But that’s not my favorite part. Although incredibly non-traditional, my favorite part of Thanksgiving is the inevitable unintentionally dirty comments made by my grandmother. Be it commenting on why phones vibrate, recounting the time my grandfather redirected traffic to the town “lady of the night” or whatever she comes up with this year, she always makes me laugh until I cry (and then looks absolutely baffled as to what is so funny).
Thanksgiving is always at my moms house, but her and I split the menu(im the oldest of 6), I always make great-grandmas homemade noodles…yum! We eat all the traditional foods (no fancy, over the top stuff for us) My family picks on me for being so “organic” and healthy and they crack jokes about the food I eat and things I drink. (they will be eating there words when they try your tea!!)Then we settle down for a snooze and battle plan for Black Friday shopping!!
Thanksgiving traditions :
Well I am the annoying healthnut in the family and for the past few years I have made a contest to show that organic and healthy food can taste just as good as the processed JUNK. So the drinks were an easy win thanks to sweet tea. Who doesnt love Mint and Honey tea ( I add fresh mint leave from the garden Just to give color) . To this day , noone seems to touch the pepsi can. As for the food The blind test almost always shows the apple pie just tastes better when its not from a can . ( Thank you to all my local farmers). I dont this to show up my family but I want many thanksgivings and health is key. So the fun doesnt stop there , We actually have a gobble games ( cheers to apple bobbing , turkey dressing and of course the family Talent show. . There is awhole lot of bad singing but its awesome. Family is important and I love it when we are all together .
Working in human services,I spend every Thanksgiving cooking dinner for the disabled women who have no place to go. While I am preparing the meal everyone watches the Macy’s parade in New York City.
We ALWAYS watch National Lampoon’s Vacation!
It isn’t a celebration without laughter! Never, ever gets old…
At every chair, I put a quote from literature or a notable person about the importance of thankfulness and gratitude. We read them out loud after praying and before eating. I did it one year in college & my parents liked it so much that now I do it every year.
Well this year I have been chosen as the Thanksgiving host(guinea pig)no matter what holiday it is someone always ends up arguing because everyone from everywhere thinks their right about everything (oh! boy) and there are thirty two cousins, aunts, uncles, brother, sisters, kids and I’m sure there will be a great, great something or other thrown in. The plan is to cook everything, then set it out buffet style, eat, catch up on old times, watch a new release movie and put up the first Christmas decoration of the year. Remember I said that’s how it’s suppose to go??? (good luck) Thank goodness I’m a nurse…lol
My favorite tradition is not really a tradition, but an occurrence that happens every year. As the clean up from dinner draws to an end, everyone sprawls across the family room fighting for key positions. While we try to watch a movie and carry on lively discussion, the triptophan starts to kick in, and everything starts getting slower and quieter as nap time kicks in.
A tradition for my husband and our I, is inviting international students over for Thanksgiving dinner. We live near the college we both attended and we used to work in the international programs office. We got to know a lot of students and we realized they often spent holidays alone. While they may not celebrate the same holidays, it did make them miss home. For about 6 years now, we have been inviting as many international students into our home. We eat, play games and just have fun together. We have had students from all over the world. From Brazil to China to Saudi Arabia. It’s just really great to connect with other cultures and just celebrate one another. We still keep in touch with everyone and we have a great friend who still comes every year.
A Thanksgiving tradition that we have is spending time with my best buddy. She’s in OH and we’re in TX but make it a point to spend the holiday together EACH year. When’s its my turn to host, we put up the Christmas tree in the evening after stuffing ourselves with yummy sweet potato pie, pecan pie or her favorite banana pudding (with extra Nilla wafers). Tree decorating counts as exercise right?
We wake up early and head out to my parents house. Watching movies, eating, and enjoying our time together. This year will be different – going to my sons for Thanksgiving where he and his girlfriend will be hosting. A little worried since they’re on a limited budget but they insist on doing it all.
While we do spend Thanksgiving with loved ones – friends and family alike, we spend the day in true reflection of all of the things and people we have to be thankful for. We give thanks for those that are no longer with us & although several of us have physical challenges, we give thanks for what we can do. We are also extra grateful for healthy food to eat (and plenty of it) year-round! The day after (Black Friday) instead of fighting the crowds to buy more, we go through what we already have and give to charity that which we can do without or no longer need – we spread our abundance around! <3
Wow, Thanksgiving already. Every year we celebrate differently, most years I’m working as I’m a pediatric hospital nurse and a hospital is never closed. Some of my fav Thanksgiving meals are when my family joins me at work and we celebrate with my coworkers and patients and their families. I’m thankful for the job I have and the understanding my family has towards what I do.sometimes we have to celebrate holidays on different days and that’s ok.
With my family thousands of miles away, I get together with my sister in NY, go to her rooftop with close friends and cousins and watch the thanksgiving day parade together. We count how many familiar floats we see and rejoice in the excitement of the festivities.
Then, we head in and cook together and eat a long multi-hour lunch with tons of chatter followed by some poker to round it out.
Friendsgiving! Each year I cook a 20 pound turkey for all my friends and we get together the Sunday before Thanksgiving to feast, drink, and enjoy a little holiday all our own. It’s the best part of the holidays, without any family drama to be had!
This is not something we do on Thanksgiving Day, as that is time to act grown-up around our families, but the Saturday or Sunday after Thanksgiving. My group of friends & I dress up as either a pilgrims, indians (native american to be politically correct) or turkeys and make a second Thanksgiving dinner just for us. This is our time to act stupid & not get the “hairy eyebrow” look from the older members of our families. GOOD TIMES
When my mom was alive, she would make potatoe pancakes from scratch(shredding the potatoes, adding egg, flour, salt and pepper) then follow it up with Turkey and the sides(homemade cornbread sausage stuffing, green beans, mashed potatoes, creamed onions, mushrooms and rolls, if she didn’t forget about them in the oven) in the afternoon.
Now that I have my own family, I have continued the tradition of potatoe pancakes, making them from scratch. I don’t usually make them except on special occasions. I now have a following of family and friends who look forward to the them during the holidays.
I also kept the tradition of turkey and sides for the afternoon. I don’t make the cornbread sausage stuffing as good as my mom but its still edible and people eat it. I still make the green beans, mashed potatoes, and add sweet potatoes to the list.
After we are completely stuffed from eating, we sit down at the table and play a game of chicken foot or mexican train dominoes.
Lots of good conversations happening.
Our tradition is to wake up at the crack of dawn, negociate on who gets to start the cooking, and who gets to drive around for hours hunting for a newspaper with the Black Friday ads! I’m not sure really who the winner is on that, both are darn tough jobs, but once that paper comes in the front door, we all gather together, and there’s a gaurentee that something going to get burned on the stove or in the oven while everyone pours over the paper. Later that afternoon as the food is getting passed around, you always hear something along the lines of, “Oh, yeah the rolls got a little crispy huh? I was going to take them out but the (insert thing we didn’t really NEED but plan to buy ten of) caught my eye!”
The whole family usually goes to my Aunt’s house. We start with taking a family portrait, meaning anyone who shows up is family. It’s usually windy outside, so the final photo usually has all of us with the windblown look. Then the kids played with the dogs, or pig (Chester R.I.P.) and then we’d settle down to our meal which is served buffet style. We take tons of pictures. Afterward, we have a huge poker game and the kids will play video games. After enough time to digest a little bit, the desserts are rolled out and just when you think you have absolutely NO ROOM in your stomach, the yearly pumpkin roll or cheesecake beckons along with their friends chocolate cake, brownies and of course pumpkin and apple pie. When we are all pretty comatose from food, the women clean up (typical) while the men finish playing poker. Hopefully my hubby comes out ahead. But overall it’s a great time had by everyone and we look forward to doing it again next year!
Our Thanksgiving tradition is simply to be thankful! We don’t have any family close by to visit or have over, so we try to invite some friends and enjoy a wonderful meal. We are a ham loving family, so the turkey gets a little sidelined, and we MUST have sweet potatos too.
Oh and if you ask my husband, Thanksgiving isn’t Thanksgiving without the can-shaped gelatinous mass served on a plate 
I beg to differ… what about green, creamy, crunchy dish!!
We’ve tried a lot of different traditions but the only one that has really stuck is booting up the computer and playing The Thanksgiving Song by Adam Sandler when he was on Saturday Night Live. We just love it’s silliness and as we sing along, it sets a lighthearted mood for the rest of the day.
Thanksgiving has been a favorite holiday for my family well before I attended my first one. Traditions run deep, it starts the night before with our Twas the night before turkey sheet cake, a simple treat that makes baking our turkey day pies even better. Thanksgiving morning starts with church services, then home to start the bird (we are late eaters in our house) and that means the offial wearing of the turkey netting (that netting from the frozen bird) while it’s prepared. Checking black friday ads for great deals and the preparing of pre-feast snacks occur. Family arrives around 3 and the little one’s start the hand print turkeys (we have them from years back). All in all from the night before to mashing the potato’s minutes before dinner, and the turkey coma after dinner. Thanksgiving is a day of family and deep rooted traditions, and although we have added and tried to subtract (it never fails that someone says hey, where’s the …..) some things never change. and it’s nice to look forward to it every single year!!!
I love when the big dinner is over and we put up and decorate the Christmas tree, then have dessert. The tree always looks so pretty and hot chocolate is so yummy. Extra marshmallows please.
my family has thanksgiving at a different house each year so the traditions change but my favorite is the rule for my grandmothers house. each kid must write a poem detailing what they are thankful for. we can’t eat until all the poems are read so in the interest of, well, being mean, i always make my poem at least 7 pages and full of not rhymes. its agony to listen too and wait through while facing all that decliousness. but it does make everyone very thankful when I’m finally done.
My tradition of late is to have untraditional food at Thanksgiving! No turkey, no stuffing, no mashed potatoes and gravy. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good turkey dinner. It just seems like we’ve changed over the years and like trying new things or unexpected main courses at the holidays. This year, we’re having bbq baby back ribs and fried chicken. It’s like having a summer outing when it’s cold outside! Since we watch a lot of football on Thanksgiving, it’s also a natural to have food we can eat with our hands! Enjoy whatever on your holiday!
For years, after a fabulous variety of foods and quick naps, all of the cousins engaged in “Relative Bowl” tag football. We played on the lot next to my grandparent’s home in LaGrange, Texas. Over the years as the knees started to go, and more aches and pains set in, we switched to volleyball….and now we play cards and tell jokes! Then it’s time for leftovers, the Longhorns and Aggies, and Sweet Leaf Tea….family traditions to warm the heart!
One of our many traditions that we have in the Martin household is, that on thanksgiving my mom and me make over 12 different types of food, and of course turkey, would not want to forget. This tradition has been our family for a very very long time. Time to eat a lot of food.
Just spending time with family!
Our favorite tradition is more of a delicious feast than anything. Its the one time of year my pops makes his famous melt-in-your mouth stuffed flounder. I know it sounds disgusting, but its to die for! Stuffed full of crawfish tails, shrimp, celery, ritz crackers, other fish, green onions, mushrooms, and topped with cheese and a white whine sauce. Heaven on a plate! It’s a sure fire way to bring the family together.
Every year when I lived at home as a child, it was always a tradition to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving day parade ; go to my Grandmothers to bring her to our house for dinner; visit my Grandfathers grave site to pay our respects ; have dinner and dessert and then play Christmas carols to start the Holiday season. These were family traditions begun by my parents and we looked forward to them each and every year. My parents have since passed but I still listen to carols each and every Thanksgiving eve to continue that family tradition which I love. Your tea is incredible – keep up the great work !.
Our Soul Food Thanksgiving tradition is always great! It always starts by a phone call from my great grandmother a few days before, inviting everyone over to her house to eat! She makes so many dishes it would take too long to write down but in return, my family from Seattle, California and Oregon all make the trip to my great grandmother’s house to eat and fill up their to go plates. It’s during this time that we all catch up on each other’s lives and talk about the new things we have tried and done, including Sweet Leaf Tea of course! I informed all of my family members about your tea last Thanksgiving and they had me track down a few bottles for last Thanksgiving, which was really something new to go along with our soul food thanksgiving! Thank you Sweet Leaf for being a part of something new for the holiday!
My husband and I travel to Chicago to see his family for Thanksgiving. For over 20 years they have played a football game with family friends on Thanksgiving morning which has been called various names like ‘The Turkey Bowl’ or ‘The Toilet Bowl’. The players range in age from 15 to over 60! After embarrassing ourselves on the field, we all go back to my in-laws house for a wonderful brunch. Later that afternoon/evening, we have a gathering with family and enjoy a large Thanksgiving dinner and play card games at night.
Happy Thanksgiving!
My wife and I travel to Houston to visit my mother-in-law for Thanksgiving. It’s always a great time to unwind and to hang out with family. Our Thanksgiving tradition is to have a smoked turkey from Goode Company BBQ with all the fixings, including some amazing jalapeño bread. Now that we live in Austin, we’ll be sure to bring some delicious Sweet Tea for the drive down – my favorite is your Half & Half – three cheers for coolers!
For as long as the Polaroid pictures in my family photo album can recall, we’ve had our Thanksgiving dinner for years. My mother is 1 of 8; my uncles and aunts, many cousins ( a couple new ones on the way!), grandparents, and a couple family friends squeeze into the basement of my grandparents three family house in Boston. I will include that everyone who lives in the house is apart of my family. Meaning the cops do not come banging on our door when the volume of everyones voice exceeds the vibrational capacity of the house. We are all very loud. Dinner Time!! Everyone brings something, we have at least 3 turkeys, and a bunch of cape verdean food. Either my father, usually the only White American in the room, or my grandfather says great words of thanks. Then all of the children get their plates first, as my father carves the turkey. Next is the adults, and from that point on everyone indulges from wherever they may find a seat. Sometimes the floor is an option, but when your appetite is at its peak, the need to sit and eat delicious food, you can be assured I will sit on the floor. I also enjoy watching all my cousins fight over the wishbone. When they finally get to break it they clothes their eyes super tight. I hope their wishing for Christmas to come faster.
My family has never been much for tradition, unless you want to count the fact that all the guys can be found in the livingroom with plates balanced on bellies while watching football. Now the last few years we’ve added me showing up (since it’s always at my mother’s house) under duress because I hadn’t had enough sleep for her 12-2pm *dinner*… then have to go to work with a belly full of turkey and carbs and try to stay awake all night.
Growing up, I always joined my mom and her 6 siblings and all of the other grandkids at Gram’s house for Thanksgiving Day dinner. As soon as the turkey was done cooking it was standard procedure for ALL of Gram’s kids and some of the grandkids to run full speed into the kitchen, knocking over everyone and everything in their path. As soon as they got to the kitchen, they would fling open the oven and attack the turkey just to peel off and eat the crunchy skin! Sometimes, shouting matches erupted as they fought over the skin! Gram was always standing somewhere in the background waving around a large spoon yelling, “Get away from my turkey!” For the rest of my life, I don’t think I will be able to look at a cooked turkey without laughing and thinking of the skin fights!
Each year, I drive the 750+ miles to Kansas City to meet my family at the Ameristar casino the night before Thanksgiving. We have an awesome downing some all-you-can-eat sushi and having drinks and gambling together. Nothing’s better than sipping on a cocktail and winning on the slots as your Grandma sits beside you doing the same. For actual Thanksgiving Day we have a traditional meal together and then head to an Amish farmer’s market for fresh produce and vintage finds. When evening comes, we head back into the city to join the rest of the city in filling the streets for the annual Thanksgiving concert and lighting of Country Club Plaza. From the poker table to the country market and downtown streets, Thanksgiving in KC is something I look forward to the entire year.
Every year on Thanksgiving night I would beg my parents to sleep over at my cousins house or he sleep at mine dependig on where it was that year. We would stay up late and eat as much leftovers as we could handle. The most coveted dish was something we called “cat vomit” which was a seafood salad my aunt would make. Despite the name its really yummy. I miss the old days when I could just have a sleep over at my cuzs house. Cant really do that now that Im 29, lol.
Growing up, everyone (20+) in my family went to my grandparents house every Thanksgiving and ate at their dining room table. We would say grace and then my mom would read a turkey poem I wrote in elementary school. That paper turkey with the poem served as the centerpiece. Through the years, we’ve had some additions to the table via marriages and children, and sadly, some empty chairs once filled by those loved ones now in heaven. This year, my 93 year-old grandmother moved in with a family relative and gave me her dining room table. I have a picture of myself when I was 6 years old at that dining room table surrounded by all of my family members that now hangs in my dining room. I’m looking forward to sharing many Thanksgiving meals at my house around that table of cherished memories. And maybe my 2 year-old son will one day write a turkey poem of his own to share throughout the years!
This tea is the best – sweet enough, but not too sweat. Nothing more needs to be said – it’s perfect!
Our traditions are changing from year to year as everyone is getting older. We may skip cooking this year, but are very thankful for everyone in our lives.
Let’s start with some stuffed Mushrooms, antipasto, proscuitto, provolone. In between while sippin on a beer or a nice red we’ll move on to some Lasagna with meatballs/sausage/brocioloe. Relax a bit while we get ready for our Thanksgiving turkey with all the fixin’s. Watching the Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys. Ahh, what a beautiful day, next to Christmas, it has to be my favorite. By the way if you couldnt pick up on my ancestry, it’s Sicilian. Let’s make Sweet Leaf a part of the tradition!
Every year since I was young we would go to the store and by everything a thanksgiving dinner could consist of, then donate it to a family in need… Now I am grown and have young children of my own I continue this tradition with them =]
Being far away from all my family, I celebrate with my family of friends! We all get together the night before and start cooking and watching old movies. Then next day, we finish off the kitchen work and enjoy a well deserved feast. The rest of the day is all about football, GO COWBOYS!!! I am so thankful we have this day to “stop and smell the roses”.
I can’t believe I am the only Austinite child of hippie parents. Every year as long as I can remember (and lets just say that I have kids of my own at this point) we wake up on Thanksgiving morning and put on Alice’s Restaurant. We also tend to listen to it after eating our dinner as well once we have the whole family there. There is something magical about everyone sitting on our big bed 1st thing in the morning singing along with Arlo Guthrie. ‘You can get anything you want at Alice’s Restaurant – ceptin Alice!’ It makes you thankful of everything you have and nothing beats watching your kids jump up and down yelling ‘Kill!Kill!’ right before ripping into some turkey!
Memories of thanksgiving will always be in my head, the girls playing each wanting to and one boy and my husband watching football, opening canned goods with their aprons on asking questions trying to learn how to do the big cookout. hugging laughing having a place to belong. Its funny how time flies, have two kids in Florida, one in Atlanta, GA, One in the military, My husband watches over us from heaven, the girls call from time to time. and i’m alone. I’m no complaining . I can sit at the kitchen table and still smell the most succlent scents. If I sit long enough I can see my husband and children as if they were still here. Happy Thanksgiving everybody.
My mother in laws home made saurkraut and egg noodles are fought over by all as we only get these twice a year (Easter)!!!
I can’t find your tea in any local stores any more. What’s going on? I checked your listing for stores that’s suppose to carry it, but none of them had it. I’m in Silver Spring Maryland 20905