Thanksgiving traditions

[lizcam]

What are your Thanskgiving tradions? And What IS Thanksgiving to you (this is so that all non-US people can join in)?

When my Mom was still alive it was the one time of year Mr. C and myself would eat with my family. Alex never met my Mom so he was never part of it.

The family would gather and the men (including Mr C, feeling really....dark....) would go outside and play catch with the football before dinner. The women (mostly just me and my Mom because my little brother wasn\'t married yet and my big brother\'s wife never came along) would go in the kitchen, drink Rum Slush (a cranberry/MaiTai mix based frozen spiked punch) and finish cooking.

Rum slush was a basic. Turkey, stuffing, relish trays, all the trimmings and those canned cranberries that come out in the shape of the can. When the food was ready we\'d call the boys back in, sit around the table Dad (the preacher) would say a prayer that was waaaay too long and preachy and then we\'d dig in.

After the meal the boys would camp in front of the big game while Mom and I would clean up. Pretty standard stuff actually.

The one tradition in the house that was really kind of cool was my Dad, also a teacher at the church college, would invite students over who couldn\'t get home for the holiday. We had people in the house from all over the counrty and even all over the world. The stories they\'d tell were great and they were always the ones to offer to help out my Mom and I cooking and cleaning up. Mom was no fool. She always accepted after a half hearted, \"Go watch the game\".

Now we head down to LA to Mr\'s C\'s family. Mine is spread all over the counrty and I think it was Mom that held the whole clan together. Mr C\'s family is loud, happy and warm, but where Mr C always felt \"dark\" around my family I always feel really \"light\" around his. Not that they care, mind you. Alex is the only grandkid in the family and I\'m a hero for carrying on the family name. It\'s just different it all. I miss my Mom every Holiday but I have my son now and that\'s what I\'m thankful for. My loved ones.

Happy Thanksgiving you all!

 

[No Such Agency]

Of course, we in Canada had our Thanksgiving quite a while ago. It seemed very early this year...

I have a small family so we tend to not have a huge holiday spectacle. We stopped having a turkey a while after my mom became a vegetarian, she graciously held out for years before declaring that the slimy dead bird was not something she was interested in dealing with anymore. Now that she\'s passed away, it\'s not like we rebounded, since a good chunk of the family is now vegetarian (including myself - well mostly).

So... no turkey!

However this does not mean any lack of delicious food! For example, my girlfriend and I contributed vegetarian shepherd\'s pie this year, and I made my mom\'s stuffing recipe, with my usual lackadaisical style of course (\"uh, do we have sage?\" DUMP \"Uh do we have apple?\" CHOP CHOP DUMP). Plus the traditional cranberries, mashed potatoes, etc.

Nobody in my family is really interested in sports, let alone \"the big game\" so really all we do is gather at my dad\'s house and eat It\'s really just an opportunity to get everyone together.

 

[lono]

Thanksgiving is something I kinda wish we had over here in the UK, purely because any excuse for a gigantic family meal featuring turkey is fine with me.

As it stands though, it\'s something Americans seem to make a big deal about and there was a reasonably decent episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer based around it.

 

[lizcam]

Originally posted by lono
Thanksgiving is something I kinda wish we had over here in the UK, purely because any excuse for a gigantic family meal featuring turkey is fine with me.

As it stands though, it\'s something Americans seem to make a big deal about and there was a reasonably decent episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer based around it.

So start the tradition! Make it British! After all, you guys took Halloween by the horns and made that your own.

Love the new avatar, lono. It always throws me a bit when someone changes up but this one seems to fit you well. :beer:

 

[lono]

I felt that after 1400+ posts it was time for a change. And temporarily confusing people was a bonus!

I need to sort out the jaggies around the edge of it though, they are already getting on my nerves. Bonus cool points to anyone who knows who it is/what it\'s from too!

And as far as making thanksgiving a tradition, I would, but I\'m really not motivated enough to have a go at that sort of thing. Might be worth mentioning it to my Dad though. Any excuse to spend 24 hours preparing a meal and he\'s in heaven. There\'s something seriously wrong with him, not that I mind of course!

 

[wiccanpony]

:beer: Thanksgiving at Casa Pony.......coming from a big family and mostly girls, we would cook all the traditional foods, Turkey & Ham being the big guests of honor.

Of course we kicked the menfolk out to the living room with any little kids and let them hash out the TV programing. Not that the menfolk got off lightly..no sir..they received clean up duty.

Some years we would invite a sailor or two from the Base who couldn’t go home to their own family. So the table was rather loud and raucous, just a cat’s whisker short of a good food fight.

Now with both parents gone and most of the family scatter to the four corners, it’s smaller, still loud and raucous but tons of fun and followed by that wonderful turkey coma. ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz

I think on what I’m thankful for this year and it’s pretty much the same...my health not being any worse then it is, family and friends who put up with me.

The dog that love’s me with or without the Turkey treats. All in all I look around and see I don’t have that bad of life....so drinks on me!!!!!!!!!!!!!! pass me another slice of pumpkin pie.

 

[mud duck]

ummm... Turkey Coma. Got to love it. Food, Family, and Fun. What more could a body wish for?
As for traditions, My Mom trying to get everything perfect, commanding the rest of the family to clean, clean, clean everything in the house (as if anyone but Mom really cared if the house was spotless or not), and the rest of us, for some reason fighting her the whole way. Every one gathering around the tables and eating to much turkey, mashed potatoes, and sometimes Swedish Meatballs, and pie. Then spending the rest of the day playing, talking, and enjoying family. Truly a holiday to be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving All

Brian

 

[squig hunter]

Originally posted by lizcam
*snip* you guys took Halloween by the horns and made that your own. *snip*

\'Twas you Americans who invented \"Trick Or Treating\" Not that I mind

Squig

 

[freakinacage]

as an englishman, i can honestly say that thanksgiving is another day that just passes me by

 

[lizcam]

Originally posted by squig hunter

Originally posted by lizcam
*snip* you guys took Halloween by the horns and made that your own. *snip*

\'Twas you Americans who invented \"Trick Or Treating\" Not that I mind

Squig

Yes but we don\'t do it with knives and we give away candy not money. Anyone over 16 goes to a good party and leaves doorbells alone untill they\'re good and drunk, and then it\'s just ding dong ditch. Only England could have

 

[airhead]

Back home, it is 5 or six families get together at one of my Aunt\'s. (I\'ve got a fairly large extended family)

Everyone eats until they are stuffed.

Menfolk either pass out in front of the TV watching football OR load up the shotguns and go see if we can walk at all and maybe scare a quail to death.

Women folk sit around the kitchen complaining about menfolk, thier latest ailment, who died, the dishes, etc. until the men get back from hunting.

Everyone eats desert (chocolate pie, cocoanut cream pie, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, cakes, fruit jello stuff, you name it, it is on the table) all with ice cream and/or whipped cream.

Then everyone passes out again.

When we wake up, we go home.

 

[PegaZus]

Originally posted by lono
I need to sort out the jaggies around the edge of it though, they are already getting on my nerves. Bonus cool points to anyone who knows who it is/what it\'s from too!

It looks like the teacher from El Hazard. Forget which series, but the one where he gets incredibly strong when drunk. Don\'t know if that\'s all of the different series or not.

As for tradition, just eat. That\'s about the only tradition.

 

[Sand Rat]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1366979748952858689&q=turkey+wkrp&total=8&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0


For the first time in 3 years its Thanksgiving with my brothers family - he lives in the middle.

 

[Dragonsreach]

Originally posted by wiccanpony

Some years we would invite a sailor or two from the Base who couldn’t go home to their own family.

Why does this not come as too much of a surprize. lol
Did any of them make it back to base \"intact\"? :innocent:

 

[Recoil889]

I\'ve gotta work, so a turkey and cheese sandwich will have to do! hope everyone enjoys thier thanksgiving.

 

[lono]

Originally posted by PegaZus
It looks like the teacher from El Hazard. Forget which series, but the one where he gets incredibly strong when drunk. Don\'t know if that\'s all of the different series or not.

Nah, actually a comic called Scott Pilgrim, by a Canadian chap, but it is drawn in a manga style. Check it out at http://scottpilgrim.com. There are tons of sample pages to look at. It\'s awesome, incredibly funny, incredibly heartfelt and incredibly geeky, so folks here will probably be into it!

 

[wiccanpony]

Originally posted by Dragonsreach

Originally posted by wiccanpony

Some years we would invite a sailor or two from the Base who couldn’t go home to their own family.

Why does this not come as too much of a surprize. lol
Did any of them make it back to base \"intact\"? :innocent:

the MPs (military police) show up on the porch and make me give them back.......party poopers:cussing: