About Thanksgiving

R

Red Flower

Joined
Oct 13, 2004
Messages
178
Thanksgiving is coming.

I was from Beijing. I didn't know Thanksgiving holiday until I studied English in China. I learned from my textbooks 10 years ago that traditional ways to celebrate this holiday were to eat turkey(s) and Pumpkin pie, to watch football game with friends and family in the afternoon. Last night, I talked to Howard about this, he said what I learned was wrong. To watch football is not tradition in Thanksgiving.

So I get some questions for your guys: what do you usaully do in Thanksgiving? What is "right" traditional way to celebrate this holiday?

Happy Thanksgiving to all.
 
I guess it's a little different for everyone. I don't like football so it's not a part of my thanksgiving. In my family it's more about being together and of course THE FOOD!! :D

Sorry my post isn't more informative, but our thanksgiving is pretty basic, nothing fancy.

happy thanksgiving to you too:)
 
Interesting question, Red Flower:) It's always nice to get a question from outside your own traditions to provoke thought.
I think Thanksgiving is one of the most widely varied holidays in American culture. The "traditional" food usually consists of a Turkey and such fall foods as anything pumpkin (pie, bread, roll, etc). What we ate and what was eaten at the first Thanksgiving are TOTALLY different.
A lot of families have the tradition of a nice quiet sit down meal with a prayer said before they eat. Family memebers from all over the country come for dinner. My father's side of the family does things A LOT different. The men sit on the couch and watch football. The women serve up the food and bring it to the men. The men usually eat in the living room watching football while the women stay in the kitchen. My wife and I don't go to my grandparents house for the holidays for this reason. We don't believe that women were put on this earth to serve their husbands. Anyway...
The one key traditional aspect of Thanksgiving is family. whether you are eating a Turkey or a ham, watching football or having a quiet sit down dinner, have a very good conversation with your loved ones or screaming at each other in frustration, you are usually with family this time of year.
This year, the wife and I are having Thanksgiving at our house. We having her parents over for dinner, some of her parents' friends, and my mother. My wife is NERVOUS about this. My mother has never cooked an overly dry turkey in her life, and this is my wife's first try at baking a whole turkey. It'll be ok though..at least i hope it is or i'll have 18lbs of dry turkey to eat:eek: :) We'll start cooking some of the other stuff tonight and prepping the bird for it's date with the oven at 7:30am tomorrow:)

Jake
 
The most important thing to do is to give thanks for what you've got, mainly family and friends. With all respect to Howard, Thanksgiving ain't really Thanksgiving without football. It has to be on tv somewhere in the house! And even though nobody in my family is a big turkey fan, you've got to have a turkey on thanksgiving.

I get together with about 20 family members, eat too much and watch football. My wife and son spend the day after with my sister and her two kids going to a movie. Thats about it!

Happy Turkey Day everybody.
 
MauiRob said:
I guess it's a little different for everyone. I don't like football so it's not a part of my thanksgiving.
Click to expand...

Pretty Ballsy statement there Rob, especially on THIS forum! I would bet that most people (guys) here DO like football. I don't like football either, never could get into it.

Anybody else feel the same way?
 
Y yo tambien. I don't find football amusing. I'd rather eat and chat with people, have a nice pumpkin beer, and go for a walk in the woods on my thanksgivings. For me it's about just being and appreciating the poetry of the season...autumn being my favorite of them all.

-Tycho-
 
Taking a moment to be glad you're alive, and thankful for the blessings you have, rather than the losses you've experienced.










munk
 
Steely_Gunz said:
My father's side of the family does things A LOT different. The men sit on the couch and watch football. The women serve up the food and bring it to the men. The men usually eat in the living room watching football while the women stay in the kitchen. My wife and I don't go to my grandparents house for the holidays for this reason. We don't believe that women were put on this earth to serve their husbands. Jake
Click to expand...

Another Ballsy statement that I also agree with. My wife is my partner and friend. We are always together. Rarely apart more than 20 feet. Fortunately she does not like football either.

We have an unusual relationship and it works well for us. We talk about everything including complicated real estate deals. I find that IF the deal is so complicated that she can not understand it, it is probably a bad idea anyhow.

All decisions are talked and opinions sought from her and myself. I seek her advice and am very glad that I have.

There was one guy that wanted me to help him with a deal. Seemed like a good idea to me. However Anne had an instant bad feeling about him. She said that something did not "feel" right about him. I had a lot of other places to put my time and money and blew him off.

He went to a friend of mine who was happy to take him up on the deal. My friend got screwed. Anne was right.

However there are a few times that I have felt strongly about something that Anne did not like. We REALLY talk these deals to death! BUT the bottom line is that it is MY decision. I am the tiebreaker. When I tell Anne, "I know how you feel, but I think that we should do this (buy this property, take on this partner, etc.)"

She goes along with me BECAUSE she KNOWS she was heard. She also knows that I will, because of her feelings, proceed cautiously, and I INVITE her to watch the deal carefully also. She supports my decision knowing that if additional info comes to light, I will change my mind. I have!

So she watches my six and never tries to let a bad decsion I made come down on me. Some people do. She never does.

I value her viewpoint, her perspective. This is not just lip service, I have changed my mind more than once due to her input. We have an awesome relationship.

But the bottom line is that I am the tiebreaker, and folks that is too often a heavy responsibility.

It works for us.
 
Bill Marsh said:
Pretty Ballsy statement there Rob, especially on THIS forum! I would bet that most people (guys) here DO like football. I don't like football either, never could get into it.

Anybody else feel the same way?
Click to expand...

Well, since I'm so far away from the rest of you guys, I guess I can say this in relative safety:

I get bored by just about any televised sport. No, really. Any.

:p
 
Thanksgiving has always been about friends and family in my family. Word would be put out that anyone that didn't have a place to go was welcome at our home. If you couldn't make it to your family you were welcome at ours.
We'd have 30-50 people come through the door on some holidays.


We once did a wild game thanksgiving.
Pheasants and duck that were that were shot only weeks earlier, salmon caught only days earlier. Back strap was on the bar-b-que. Wild rice bought from the area we got the fowl, home grown onion soup, home grown potatoes...braided bread made the day before.
It was awesome...so much food.
 
Jake?

Have Bren use a turkey bag. It honest-to-gawd is infallible. I once over-cooked a turker for over an hour past maximum cooking time, and it came out so tender it flaked off the bones. Can't miss.

and easy clean up.
 
Red Flower,
For our family it has always been about family and friends getting together and spending time together. Of course all family get togethers require copious amounts of food. This year we will be getting together at my house. My wife doesn't enjoy cooking that much so I will be doing most of it. I will cook a turkey, a smoked ham, mashed potatos, corn bread stuffing, cranberries, fresh yeast rolls, pumpkin and mincemeat pies. My mother is bringing green beans, my daughter is bringing macaroni and cheese, and my mother-in-law is bringing bananna pudding.

My mom and dad are 79 and 80 years old, and my mother-in-law is 83, so we treasure the time with them. There will be much conversation, and yes we'll probably watch some football. My dad and my wife are the biggest fans.

When we eat, my father will say the grace (prayer) since he is the patriarch of the family. He usually has a list of things to say that he is thankful for. Sometimes my mother asks everyone to say what they are the most thankful for.

My son-in-law is home from the Army so he will be joining us. I have 3 grandchildren. The youngest ones will be playing around the house and outside in the yard. My 15 year old granddaughter is way too cool for that, so she'll probably be on the computer chatting with her friends.:) My 17 year old son will probably be playing the guitar.

So what you learned is partly true. It's different for every family.

I hope you and Howard enjoy your first Thanksgiving together!

Steve Ferguson
 
Thanksgiving is indeed a wonderful time, when family gets together and enjoys time together. There's also lots of delicious things like turkey... but sadly, my thanksgiving was quite a long while ago. (it's a completely different day in Canada)

I'm sitting here in the lab, starving half to death, and reading about your turkey and homemade bread....:( ;)

Enjoy your Thanksgiving, fellow forum-folks.
 
Kismet said:
Jake?

Have Bren use a turkey bag. It honest-to-gawd is infallible. I once over-cooked a turker for over an hour past maximum cooking time, and it came out so tender it flaked off the bones. Can't miss.

and easy clean up.
Click to expand...

Oh i know all about the turkey bag. You see, my mother is a fan of the bag. I didn't know there was any other way to cook a bird. HOWEVER, Bren's family never used a bag. So i get the age old job of the husband that gets the call from his mother
"Is she using a bag? I'm not trying to be a mom, but it REALLY works. Oh and make sure she takes the bird out of the freezer 3 days before. oh and make sure she precuts everything that goes on or in the bird. You don't want crosscontamination, you know."
"Yes, mom. WE know. She'll be fine (she actually cooks better than my mother. A rare feat for any wife). Ok, we'll see you at 11. No, you don't need to come any earlier. We've got it under control, just bring the pie. Ok, bye."
Then Brenna says in a hard voice "Was that your mother telling you how to cook the turkey again?"
"Yeah, well she jus..."
"OH.. MY.. GOD! She just thinks I'm going to burn this thing to a crisp, doesn't she?"
"No, hon. She just wants to give you a few poin.."
"Well I'm going to fix the turkey the way I want to fix it! She passed this off on me so if the turkey comes out dry, then she'll just have to eat dry turkey!"
"Alright, well i'll be in the garage."

Long story short...she's using the bag;)

Jake
 
We try to eat what the Pilgrims ate on the first Thanksgiving in 1620.
To the Pilgrims, a lot of these foods were unknown before their arrival in America.
They ate corn, venison, fish, turkey, duck, barley, peas, goats' milk, walnuts, maple syrup, eggs, etc..
The Pilgrims were damned lucky to survive and they knew it. They were also deeply religious people, early protestant Christians whose beliefs deeply affected the nature of American society and still do today.
Thanksgiving may be a national holiday, but it is a Christian holiday of thanksgiving to God.

They celebrated for three days with feasting and other entertainments with the Wampanoag tribe who had helped them survive in the new world.

They probably did not eat ham, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce or pumpkin pie. They did have access to some of these foods, but they had no sugar!
 
Well, you seem to be inexcellent company here Red Flower. I think everyone here is right. Togetherness, cheerful happy attitudes, FOOD, and in my family some football, and a good drousy SLEEP in the afternoon are common fare. I always clean up for my wife if she blesses us with her cooking. Thats an old Boy Scout rule. The cook doesn't clean. So football and napping come after pitching in.

Happy Thanksgiving Red Flower, et al...

Andy
 
So here's the oddball post....


I'm not a huge fan of thanksgiving myself. Not entirely sure why...I had a pretty rough experience on Thanksgiving as a kid....my wife is always called upon to do alot of cooking and preparation, and then she gets going in a big ole stressed out whirlwind, and she gets up on step yelpin' gripin' an' barking orders I swear she could run Ghengis Khan out of the house clutching his head and screaming for mercy. or maybe looking at all those yummy temptations at the same time of year I start trying to put myself through diet hell. Maybe having to spend a little time around my wifes family. (they're like something out of a REALLY bad Jeff Foxworthy script, with a bit of Stephen King thrown in for extra effect)

That being said...there is a time after all the shopping and stress, the yelling, the dealing with dysfunctional white trash family, the "holy crap I ate like a cow!" bloated feeling, when I find a little bit of quiet with my son, sometimes sitting on a front porch, playing a game of cards, going for a walk...etc. when I remember how lucky we truly are. There's a tremendous amount love in my household, we're never hungry, and always basically healthy. We're sleeping in a warm house with two automobiles outside, my dog at my feet, and the cat in my wifes lap. All my family's basic wants and needs are met.

Yup...I got alot to be thankful for.
 
It wouldn't be Thanksgiving without a dysfunctional 'clunk' in the air.

My old Man would scold everyone with his harsh Quality Assurance Engineer's review of Reality; had it been a book I assure you we all would have fell short of comprehending, let alone living up to the measurements therin.



munk
 
Six + hours of cooking, about fifteen minutes of actual eating. 4 different kinds of potatoes. Some kind of jello salad nobody wants. Cranberry sauce from the can with the little ridges showing.
 
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