Turkey Traditions:: Finding Old and New

Holiday traditions are something I hold sacred.  I love all things holidays and all things traditions. Thanksgiving is no exception for me.  It might be because my birthday sometimes falls on Thanksgiving. Some of our turkey traditions are old, some are new(er), and some, hopefully, to be tried.

Old Traditions

Most of my family’s old traditions are surrounded by food. While I can’t give out my family’s secret recipes I will give some other suggestions.

My family’s mashed potatoes are made days in advance. GASP-what?! I make them at least 2 days in advance and they have sour cream and cream cheese in them. Cranbabies, my word I made up as a child has stuck, is a staple. We only have canned cranberries, you know the kind. I am pretty sure only my mother and I eat them. (They are great for using for a leftover Thanksgiving sandwich, similar to this.)

What are you thankful for? After the prayer, we do a once around the table to see what everyone is thankful for. It fills the soul to hear what your family is thankful for.

Pre-Black Friday Strategizing. Since I was married we have started Black Friday shopping. The first couple of years we got up at 3AM for DVD players and now it is the tradition. Nothing beats watching people jump over clothes racks for a $30 Nintendo game. We spend part of our Thanksgiving day looking over the ads and deciding do we need $4 pajamas from Walmart or $2 scarves from Old Navy.

New Turkey Traditions

About 5 years ago, I decided to start some new things for Thanksgiving. My first adventure was a Turkey table runner. Every year to my kids’ dismay, I make them paint their hands like a turkey for my table runner.  I am not for sure what I will do when we run out of room, but so far I love it.

Thanksgiving table runner

As an educator, I am a big sucker for art projects. I also have a hard time getting rid of anything my kids create. Therefore, I save everything. What I love to do is tape up, with painter’s tape, the kids’ old artwork on my kitchen cupboards. What started as a small thing, has branched into taping onto doors. The kids won’t admit it but they love looking back to see what they were thankful for in kindergarten.

Turkey crafts

“Thankful for…” chalkboard. This is a new one this year. I am giving my kids the chance to write what they are thankful for. So far only one has added to the board, but I am excited to see where this one goes.

Turkey Traditions blow-ups

Turkey Blow Up Wars. My husband loves yard blow-ups. I can take them or leave them. Since I can remember in my parenting life, we have had a turkey blow up. In the past couple of years, our neighbors have taken an active interest in our turkey blow-ups. We are currently in year three of the blow-up war, who has more turkeys? Our kids and their kids love it. The people driving by love it too. So far we have not ended up on the news.

Soon-to-be tried traditions

I have heard that after the turkey coma has happened, many families do their Christmas Holiday decorating. We strive to do this every year and every year we fail. Either I have decorated before Thanksgiving or I am scrambling to get it all done before Christmas Eve.

Gratitude rolls. I have seen several Pinterest posts and Facebook posts about how to make these. You write what you are grateful or thankful for and they are baked into the rolls. Then each person gets to read during the meal.  Here is one idea.

What are your Thanksgiving traditions?

Amanda
Amanda is the mother of four- Abby(14), Porter(10), Paxton(6) and Anaston(1) and wife to Aron. To add to the crazy mix she has 2 dogs. She keeps herself busy with church volunteering, scouts, chasing kids and being the PTO President. She is a Speech-Language Pathologist that took a recent job change after 16 years in the public schools to work at home continuing her Speech career. Although her kids are spread out, she loves finding family time and watching them interact with each other. She loves traveling, Netflix binges, and enjoying a cocktail or two. She is excited to write for the OMB and get to know her town better.