Thursday, November 18, 2010

Thanksgiving Traditions

With Thanksgiving quickly approaching, please share your favorite traditions. I'll go first.

We cook like fiends and make all the traditional trimmings--turkey, dressing, sweet potato casserole, broccoli casserole, green bean casserole (you must have several casseroles in the Midwest--it's the law). We also have Monica rolls (named after my young niece who inhales these tasty yeast rolls), mashed potatoes, gravy and cranberries. Dessert includes pumpkin pie and pecan pie. I'm gaining weight just looking at this menu.

We always give thanks for our brave military, their families, and for our own friends, family and bounty of food. We wish for everyone's health, happiness and safety. This year will be particularly hard due to the tragic loss of my niece but we must go on for her little sister and other family members. I know I keep talking about this but it's foremost in my mind.

As far as shopping, I avoid Black Friday like the plague. Two different years, I made the mistake of shopping the day after Thanksgiving, and it got me out of a festive mood quicker than anything. First of all, I am not going to get up at 5 a.m. to hit a store and save $25. Secondly, I'm not going to get in a snarl of traffic, wait in long lines, and fight over the last most popular gift in the store. Instead, I usually decorate that Friday and shop via the Internet or magazines.

How about you? What are your Thanksgiving traditions and what's on your menu? Please share.

4 comments:

  1. We're hosting the holiday at our house with family. We love getting together on holidays.

    For Thanksgiving we'll have Turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberries, stuffing, rolls, noodles...I can't even begin to name it all.

    And I'll definitely gain weight, but then I can hit the gym on Friday! And put up our tree. I may go shopping, but only to Walmart. I won't fight the crowds by going to different stores to save a dollar. But I do like to be "in" it on that first day of shopping. May only buy a box of chocolate covered cherries, but still.....

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  2. We are having turkey and all the trimming too.
    There is not one woman or man (in my family) who wants to get up at dawn to start cooking for six hours for an meal that will take us one hour, possibly less to consume. After the Marathon cooking session the lethargy that always follows overeating and turkey dinner arrives, but still you have to wrap up and store the left overs then wash all the plates, cups and silver that was used in the carnage of said turkey. (poor tom)
    Anyway, that is why we will be at the Golden Coral feeling oh so grateful for those hard working cooks and servers!
    The best thing about the day is the afternoon nap.

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  3. Turkey and all the trimmings, for sure. We always have indiviudal favorites--corn/oyster casseroles, broccoli/rice cass., green bean cass., (yes Beth--definitely the law!!! :) cranberries, potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes-pumpin and pecan (my mom's recipe) pies-Oh, and cheesecake.

    When my sons were small, I used to bake cornish game hens instead of turkey--they loved them (each their own) and--what with Thanksgiving at our other relatives, we never lacked for turkey.

    By the way, I'd love a good recipe for sweet potato cassarole. My sis-in-law used to make one but I lost the list.

    Yep, I definitely feel another five pounds after everyone's lists.

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  4. oops, excuse the typo on that last casserole :)

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