What are your weird Thanksgiving traditions?
No, seriously. When I was a kid my mom suddenly contracted a strange allergy to the bird. Maybe it's the tryptophan or something, but when she eats turkey she is knocked out for days. Literally. So, since then our family has been turkey-less on Turkey Day.
Instead, on Thanksgiving we treat ourselves to a delicious Thanksgivingmas ham. It derives from the traditional ham our family shares for Christmas. The recipe for said ham is so secret that even I, the child of the current Thanksgiving sous chef, am not yet privy to know how it's made. It was decided we couldn't go without meat on Thanksgiving. Plus, the two holidays aren't far apart anyway. Thus the Thanksgivingmas ham was born.
This quirky tradition got me wondering if any other families have weird Thanksgiving traditions. So I want to hear: does your family have any weird traditions for this holiday?
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5 Comments
Steph Yiu said:
As someone who did not grow up in America, Thanksgiving is an entirely new tradition to me. (Maybe I should write a blog post about this... hmm!). But, I have grown to really love the holiday, mostly because for me, it's about spending time with friends.
That's because in American universities, everyone goes home -- except for the international students who, like me, can't make it home and back in 3 days. So we all get together and do an "international thanksgiving." I remember senior year, we had everything from Egyptian food to sushi. It was awesome.
But then when I was living in Scotland, I roomed with 12 girls (and 12 guys) across the hall... from all over the world. About 6 of the bunch were Americans... and they said, let's do Thanksgiving! So we celebrated by sharing the tradition with everyone in the apartment -- and they all loved it. We went around saying what we were thankful for, and then everyone was introduced to some turkey, some cornbread, some cranberry sauce, etc.
Well, I'll be working in the RedEye offices this thanksgiving... so while it won't be as international as before, I'm sure RedEye/Tribune folks know how to have fun.
Outsanity said:
I would rather have a cheese pizza. Or this...
http://bitsandpieces.us/2009/11/25/turbaconducken/
Lantro said:
Same here-no turkey now for about 10 years but I went veg back then so Eh....I posted a little about the holidays on my personal blog but I hate the idea of everyone focusing on the food, I'd rather (cheesy I know) focus on my family..I'm grateful for being very close to them so I never turn down a chance to hang with them. SOOOOO yea regarding your questions-no weird traditions just that my mom or my aunt usually flip flip who hosts...this year Mom has Thanksgiving and Xmas is at my aunts...
PS-Wow Steph you win the 'sounds the coolest to attend" Thanksgiving award!! Very cool experiences...
PPS-I do believe we have our first comment from a non-royaler! HOOORAY nice work Ryan!
RyanJustice said:
Thanksgiving is kind of a "sit in front of the couch and eat Ben & Jerry's with my chihuahua" kind of day. I haven't made it home for the festivities in a few years. I call it my Charlie Brown Thanksgiving...wah wah wahhhhhhhh.
Jen said:
Steph: I wish more people were open to celebrating Thanksgiving like you've described, and actually remembering that it's about being thankful for everything and anything. I don't really have any unusual traditions, but for the past few years I've been making vegetarian side-dishes to avoid being crazy hungry while everyone is scarfing down turkey. Awesomely enough, my veggie dishes went over really well this year!
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