On Thanksgiving Traditions

I don’t know much about your family (but I would love to hear more in the comments down below! Even when I don’t respond to them, I read each and every one, I swear!) but when it comes to my family, we’re pretty light on traditions. We don’t do an Easter Egg hunt (we’re too Jewish) we don’t do a Passover Seder (not Jewish enough), we don’t plant trees for Arbor Day (too many allergies), or fight each other for Boxing Day (too fragile). Sure, my parents still decorate a Christmas tree, and my mom puts out some pumpkins around Halloween, but that’s pretty minimal in the grand scheme of things. The one time of year that my family has an unshakeable, unbreakable, unmistakable tradition is on Thanksgiving!

I’m still not really sure how it all started but around fifteen years ago (I feel like time flying has become a real recurring theme in my essays recently), my uncle and his two eldest sons came into town for a lowkey Thanksgiving dinner. What was once an unstructured guess at what a WASPY family might do has turned into the Petermen arriving early on Thanksgiving morning, a round of mimosas, some NFL, and bagels. Back when I lived with my parents (all 3 separate times!) I eagerly awaited the arrival of my family and the beginning of the light day-drinking. Now that I live separately, I can’t wait to head over and get started. Once the morning activities are finished, the run-up to the main event begins.

(what started as this ^)

It usually starts with some cheese and crackers to hold everyone over, and then…the beer pong tournament starts. Originally it was just a game or two while we waited for turkey, but as the family kept expanding and boyfriends and girlfriends and fiancés kept getting invites, the roster grew and grew until a full-fledged tournament broke out (won this year by yours truly and his surprisingly skilled fiancé!) This tradition mostly stemmed from a wonderful photo someone took of my perfect mother executing an unbelievably smooth underhanded toss.

After beer pong comes the more traditional portion: an incredible meal lovingly spearheaded by my previously mentioned mother, my well-meaning father, and anyone who walks into the kitchen at the right time to get roped into ricing potatoes or cooking green beans or setting the table. When all the food smells good enough that you’d float through the air, led by your nose, like some kind of cartoon wolf, we all sit down around the table. I’m not sure where this part of the tradition came from either but my mom always buys these mysterious “crackers”. Each person grabs one end if their cracker, and grabs a hold of their neighbor’s, then on three we all pull and they POP and out drop the goodies: a paper crown, a small game or puzzle, and two jokes that are legitimately the least funny things you’ve ever heard.

(has become this^!)

We proceed to each say what we’re thankful for (accompanied by the cheers and “aww”s we deserve) then we dig in! The food is always wonderful and the company is just as good. There’s just something so special about getting to spend a few glorious hours with family you only see once a year and yet it feels as comfortable as if you chatted every day. Once the food is dusted off, the dessert is finished and everyone is full to burst, comes the cherry on top, the hot tub.

Before these traditions started, Thanksgiving was a C-tier holiday to me: no presents, no candy, no costumes. But ever since my family developed a few traditions of our own…it’s become one of my favorite days of the year.

What about you? Do you have any family traditions?