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Location: Midwest, United States

Monday, December 01, 2008

My New Thanksgiving Box... and other Traditions from Turkey Day

For Thanksgiving this year husband and I decided we would spend it with both of our extended families in Illinois. We are lucky to have plenty of aunts, uncles, and cousins in the Chicago area and a few of them even live within a few miles of each other. 

Over the last four years that we have been together we have spent a lot of time with Jff’s Aunt and Uncle B and with my cousin Jean and her husband Daryl. Both families have young kids and it has been fun to watch them grow up. It was great to be able to enjoy both sides of our family this year, especially knowing that next year it may be more difficult to travel for holidays like Thanksgiving.

On Thursday we had dinner at 1 o’clock at my family’s and then made it back for a 5 o’clock Thanksgiving six miles away at Jff’s family’s. It was so great to be surrounded by family in both places that we sincerely love- we enjoyed the kids, catching up, and just sharing in many of the traditions of both families. But something occurred to me after the second Thanksgiving of the day… I couldn’t help but realize that Thanksgiving dinner at my family’s had just tasted SO GOOD (and better than at Jff’s…)

This got me wondering… do we always just prefer what is our own? Especially, if it is related to family, traditions, and what we are used to?  I mean Jff and I both agreed that the potatoes were better at my cousin’s, but I would have said that everything was better, and I am sure he would not agree. As I was relating this to my mom, she remarked that my aunt had probably used most of grandma’s old recipes… so many of this things that I have had at Thanksgiving meals since I was a small child. That must be what it is… don’t we just naturally like the things we grow up with, better?

Today as I was at my cousin’s house again, we were laughing about this phenomenon of family preference. She agreed that it all stems from what we are used to, and not always what is the BEST food. I had to laugh when she said, “Yeah, but I do tell Daryl that I really don’t like his mom’s stuffing—she puts ground meat in it-- Yuck!”

Anyways, this got me thinking about traditions and what kind of things our child will be used to and the ways that we all choose what we continue from our families and what things we leave behind. What traditions do we create for our children to pass on or leave behind?

One tradition that began this year with Jff’s cousin Ava, that will we will hopefully always continue, is the Thanksgiving Box. Before dinner everyone wrote on a separate piece of paper what they were thankful for. After dinner and dessert, we opened up the box and Ava read all that notes out loud. It was really fun, and functioned to remind everyone of what is really being celebrated at Thanksgiving. There were plenty of laughs and “oohs” shared during the reading of the cards and in the end it functioned to let everyone know what each individual was celebrating. My favorite list that was read was husband's Thankful card, it read:

I am thankful for:
New babies
Pumpkin bread
Family
Klou
Obama
Nintendo

So this year I left Thanksgiving determined to continue some traditions, and make others my new traditions. First, I vow to find my grandma’s old recipes so when I start making Thanksgiving dinner I can make it the way that is the way I remember it. Second, I will always continue the family walks after dinner- each year there is so much fun had on these treks through neighborhoods and there are great conversations had. Third, I vow to continue my avoidance of the ridiculousness of Black Friday the day after Thanksgiving—I never have taken part and I am glad—I much prefer spending time with family, playing outside, or just sharing a day of rest with people I care about to the over-consumerism of buying things with a zillion people I don’t know and don’t care about. Fourth, from now on all Thanksgivings will include more vegetables (ginger carrots!) and loaves of pumpkin and cranberry bread. And finally, from now on I will always have a Thanksgiving Box to use and to share.

1 Comments:

Blogger amy said...

i love your thanksgiving box idea ... and especially the part about having a kid read them all out loud.

8:58 AM  

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