Here at Cultivating Trio, we are celebrating Thanksgiving all week long. Today we remember our favorite memories and traditions. We hope that this will get thinking about your favorite traditions. Over the next few days each of us will talk about what we are thankful for this year. We find it so uplifting to list all the things we love and are grateful.
Kim
My favorite memory is not only for Thanksgiving but for all our family holiday gatherings. As a little girl I would take turns sitting on the laps of all my aunts and uncles while they played cards after we ate dinner. It was on all those family members laps that I learned how to count :-). They would play Thirty One or Zilch and I would “help” them play and in the process I learned all of my numbers, then how to count and finally how to add. Since I was the only cousin at our family gatherings for so many years I always “played” with the adults and I always had the BEST time! So this Thanksgiving I’m sending my thanks and gratitude long distance to Heaven to Aunt Janice & Uncle Ollie, Aunt Jane & Uncle Ernie, Aunt Margaret & Uncle Carl, Grandma Frank, Grandma Casey. And every time I play Thirty One and “rap” without looking at my cards – I think of Uncle Ernie :-). ~ Kim
Chanyn
Thanksgiving for our family has looked different over the years. When I was very young, I remember having Thanksgiving on a family farm. We would have so much food. Then just after dinner was over the ladies would start setting out the pies, ten or fifteen pies. Yummy! We would eat, watch football, go on jeep rides in the fields. Some years we would spend it with my mom’s family. My mom, aunt and grandma would spend the morning cooking. My sister and I would hang around with our cousins. We would eat a great meal. My sister and I would help do the dishes… seemed like a never ending pile of dishes. But after that we would play games: cards, dominos, Phase 10. We would play games into late in the evening. I am so thankful for those holidays, for the late nights and my family I got to spend it with. This year we are spending Thanksgiving just with our kids. Our kids are always on the move, but for a day, we will slow down. We will cook together. Watch a football game. If the weather permits we may start a new family tradition of 3 on 3 basketball game. No matter what we do, we will do it together. I pray you can spend quality time with your family this Thanksgiving! Be Blessed ~Chanyn
Katie
My Thanksgiving Traditions have changed quite a bit over the years. But there have always been a few constants in my Thanksgiving: Family, Good Food, Football and Thanksgiving Parade!
Family: Thanksgiving always had us surrounded with lots of family. And that has certainly not changed, only grown exponentially. Now that I am married, we have three houses that we stop at every year. Each house has a different part of our family, and feel so lucky to have such a large family. It can be hectic to go so many places in one day, but it wouldn’t feel like Thanksgiving if we didn’t see everyone.
Good Food: I remember sitting around the table eating amazing home cooked food that my aunts, mom and grandmother made. Each family took turns hosting each holiday, but everyone brought a dish to pass. Now that I am married, we go to three places for Thanksgiving. We get to experience three similar, yet different dinners. I find it so interesting to experience 3 traditional Thanksgiving dinner, yet they all have little variations.
Football: When I was little, we always watched football on Thanksgiving. I remember switching the time of the big meal around depending on the time of the Packer game. When I met my husband, we added a new football tradition. My husband and his father play in the Turkey Bowl every Thanksgiving morning. They have been doing that for over 40 years. It is my father in laws high school class verses the class behind him. Every year they all meet at the same park to play football. It’s mostly their kids or grandkids playing now, but it is a wonderful tradition.
Parade: I Love watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and now I love watching I with my children. I love looking at the black Friday ads from the paper, sip my coffee, and cuddle on the couch with my kids watching the parade.
What are your favorite Thanksgiving memories and traditions? Let us know in the comments what you love to do on Thanksgiving or your favorite memory from Thanksgiving.
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