The holiday season is upon us as the aroma of pumpkin spice fills the air. The colors of the season appears everywhere we turn, and the sounds of children’s laughter enriches our ears. The coats and jackets are out as we sit around the table giving grace for the meal we have cooked as a family. That’s right. I’m talking about that one time of the year that happens near the end of the season. That one holiday that screams food and fun. I’m talking about Thanksgiving! Come on now, don’t try and tell me you thought I was talking about Christmas. It’s only November.
Anyway, Thanksgiving, similar to other large holidays such as Christmas, is a wonderful time for the whole family to come together and enjoy each other’s company. Oh who am I kidding, we all come for the food. I’m just kidding, but it is part of our tradition to all come home to my mom’s house for the beloved holiday. As part of that tradition the family has divided the meal so that Mother is not stuck with all the cooking. My oldest sister makes the beloved green bean casserole as well as her amazing corn bread. As for my other sister, she is in charge of the broccoli and cheese as well as the sweet potatoes while her husband is in charge of the delightful ham--keeping in mind to leave the pineapples on it so that my niece, nephews, myself, and whoever cares for a slice can help ourselves. My brother offers his personality to the table, but he will try and help when he can. As for my older nephew, sometimes he brings his own creation and sometimes he doesn't, but when he does we can never seem to get enough of it! That right there is something new that could soon or later become a part of the Thanksgiving tradition. As for me, I’m still technically at home, so I help my mother with all the baked goods such as the pies and puddings, the turkey and stuffing, the mashed potatoes and gravy, and the noodles. I also make the sweet tea every year and once in awhile I’ll be the one on deviled egg duty. The deviled eggs are passed around in the family, and most of the time it’s between my mother and my oldest sister who makes them. Sometimes it’s my aunt who makes them when her and my uncle stop by.
Back to being at home with my mother, I love helping her cook the meal. We try to have so much fun when doing the turkey or even just topping off the pies. Now the challenge of both is to make sure neither end up on the floor, or we might end up experiencing A Christmas Story in our house. Not really, but it would be funny. Some things my mom and I do are when we stuff the turkey and I make the comment, “He looks a little stuffed to me.” There was also a time mom was having trouble with the turkey’s wings and when she was struggling she made it look like it was dancing. I would have turned on some music, but I was unfamiliar with the type of dance it was.
As for spending time with the family, it can be very peaceful and relaxing to watch the kids play outside as the guys scream at the flat screen in the living room and the girls clean the dishes and have a nice conversation. Too bad that’s not how it always works out. Every family has their moments where the children can’t get along, the family is dispersed in different rooms, and eventually all chaos breaks loose as I lock myself in my room. That’s only happened once for five minutes, but nonetheless, it happened. Even though Thanksgiving is a day to be thankful, the Christmas season always seems to appear. Whether it’s watching a Christmas movie by the end of the night because nothing good is on television, or a new tradition the adults started known as a secret Santa gift exchange. There are six of us placed in a hat and we each draw one name. If we draw our own name we restart, and nobody is allowed to know who we have except for Mother. That started last year, and low and behold, one of my sisters screwed it up…but we didn’t find out until she sent me the picture of her name asking what to get this person for Christmas two weeks later. Way to go there, genius! Way to follow directions.
But those are just our traditions that we hold near and dear to us. Each family is different and have different Thanksgiving traditions such as preparing for Black Friday shopping. One year one of my sisters thought it would be nice to try and go out to a few stores on Black Friday and do some shopping… at midnight! When we got to Wooster, there was a line outside of Kohl's clear out to the parking lot, and there were tents set up right in front of Best Buy. But hey, that’s how people want to spend their time, and there is nothing wrong with that. We got into Walmart where only certain sections were open before midnight, and as soon as midnight hit it seemed as if some sort of siren went off and the ribbons were cut loose. Nobody could move throughout the store it was so crowded. And if that’s not the best part, when trying to get a game my nephew wanted for Christmas, I found myself close enough to grab the last box. However, some other woman didn’t like that so instead she lifted me up, turned me around, set me in a cart, and pushed the cart aside. Talk about rude. I mean, come on people, it is not worth it! Yeah, Black Friday will never be a part of my tradition.
A few years later, which also happened about two years ago, my mother and I got an unexpected visitor…at 1 AM. So my mother has a horseshoe driveway, and it’s not uncommon for people to turn around in it, so at first my mother thought nothing of the sound of a truck engine. After 10 minutes of listening to the truck, my mom ran downstairs to wake me up and had me peek out the window. Note: the first thing she should have done was to call the police. So we were sitting in the living room staring at the truck parked at the very bottom of our driveway crooked with the lights off, engine running, and little movement. My mother and I argued whether she should scare him away by turning on the porch light while I suggested calling the police! Mistake number 2: DO NOT TURN ON THE PORCH LIGHT! So after another 15 minutes, I dialed 911 and handed my mother the phone. As soon as the cop arrived, the guy tried to flee the scene, but his attempts fail as the officer rips him out of the car and questions him while waiting on back up. Moments later a K-9 unit arrives where we hear the dog barker for 10 minutes straight! That guy was drunk as heck, argued that this was his house, and here’s the best part: HE’S NOT EVEN FROM OHIO! So now we have the tradition on asking mother if another drunk is going to join us for Thanksgiving.
So our traditions may seem a little weird and we may be a little different, but that’s what makes Thanksgiving so memorable in our family.
