Thanksgiving Traditions
Continuing from yesterday’s post about traditions
Today I will talk about Thanksgiving and our families’ traditions.
Each Thanksgiving Day, I would watch the J.L. Hudson’s Parade down Woodward Avenue in Detroit. Sometimes my dad would even take my brother and I to see it live. We continued this tradition with our children and our grandsons too. Nowadays, we usually just watch it on television while preparing the Thanksgiving meal.
Around Thanksgiving, whole nuts appear in the stores. My dad always made sure we had several dishes of nuts scattered around the house along with nut crackers, picks, and bowls for the shells. I too love nuts and make sure to have them for the holidays, beginning with Thanksgiving.
I was terrified the first time I cooked a turkey. My mom had a couple of failures, mostly dry meat. And there was the one year she was out of cheesecloth and wrapped the bird in old curtains. It tasted terrible. I don’t know how the cheesecloth-wrapped bird tradition came about, but that was one I dropped. My first bird was wonderful, and I make one each year, whether we are dining at home or away. We all love the leftovers.
My husband hates stuffing, but my daughter and I love it. I prepare sausage stuffing and cook it inside the bird. It is so delicious. My mother-in-law always made her stuffing outside the bird, so I opted this way to make stuffing for my husband. He hates how bready stuffing is generally, so I make his with less bread and add in sausage, apples, raisins, and walnuts. He enjoys it made this way.
Besides the turkey, I make several side dishes. My mom always just pared, cubed, and boiled her yams. I usually mash them with brown sugar or make a casserole with marshmallow topping. My dad and I love sauteed mushrooms and they are included at any feast including Thanksgiving. My mom always made a tossed salad, but I find that superfluous with all the other dishes, so I omit it. Instead I make a broccoli casserole. My mother-in-law always made green been casserole, and I’ve added that to our menu some years. My mom also made mashed potatoes and gravy, but again, with stuffing and sweet potatoes, I just find this too much starch, so I don’t make them. My mom always had crescent rolls. Instead, I usually make a braided loaf covered with cheese and spices. My mom opted for canned cranberry sauce or jelly. However, one of my aunts always made homemade cranberry relish. I have several recipes for cranberries, either boiled with sugar or put through my grinder with walnuts and oranges. I usually put sweet corn on the menu, either as niblets or as succotash.
When I was little, I learned to make turkeys out of apples and I usually made a few to decorate the table. I taught this craft to my children, my Girl Scouts, and my grandsons, so hopefully this tradition will carry on.
And finally, we come to desserts. Of course, the favorite is pumpkin pie and my husband always makes great ones that we eat with whipped cream. Some years I’ve baked a German Chocolate cake. My grandson’s mom makes chocolate pie and I’ve been making it now too. My mom always made a refrigerator cheesecake with peaches. I have her original recipe, and although it tastes great, I can’t seem to get the texture right. Maybe I’ll try again this year.
Thanksgiving Day also means a day to show our thanks to God by attending a service. My daughter celebrated two milestones on Thanksgiving. First, she received her First Holy Communion on a Thanksgiving Day. Second, a few years ago, she got married on Thanksgiving Day. Her request was for me to bring pierogi for the feast, so sometimes we include those now too.
Tomorrow, I’ll tell you about my Christmas traditions.
What are some of your Thanksgiving traditions?
