I talked earlier in the month about how quickly our seasons of life change. No one time in our lives lasts forever. And as the seasons of our lives change so will the way that we celebrate different holidays. So, today I thought I’d share with you some of our different Thanksgiving traditions over the years.

Up until about 2012 our family would alternate holidays with different sides of the family. If Thanksgiving was with my Mom’s family that year Christmas was celebrated with my Dad’s family. And vise-versa.

The years that we celebrated Thanksgiving with my Mom’s family we would go up to this teeny-weeny town in northern Ohio called Sherrodsville to my Great Grandparents house. Most all of the family would be gathered in this house (up to 22 of us depending on the year). Then some of us would help put the finishing touches on the meal while we talked and visited with each other. We would eat dinner and then the adults would talk and watch football and the kids would play.

Some of my favorite memories of our time there was walking into the house when we got there. It would be nippy and cold outside but once we all got out of the van we would be able to smell the wood burning stove that was always going this time of the year. We would walk into the basement and then up the stairs to be greeted by whichever family was there at the time. The cousins that were still in diapers at the time were quickly stripped down to just their diaper and the rest of us cousins would sometimes put on shorts because it wasn’t uncommon for the house to be 80° or more. We’d eat dinner at 1:00 and then we would talk, visit, or play and then about 4 or 5:00 when we would get hungry the mothers would always say, “There’s plenty of food. Fix yourself a plate now because I’m not making dinner when we get home.” So, we’d eat again. Everyone that came was sent home with some food. A pie, some turkey or the fixings. We just divided what was left among everyone.

If we spent the year with my Dad’s family my Grandparents would come up and we would make Thanksgiving Dinner at our house. Each of us kids would be in the kitchen helping to prepare the meal. We’d have the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade on T.V. and get the turkey on. We would take the day kind of easy.Once we ate dinner we would tidy up the kitchen and then watch Disney’s “How The Grinch Stole Christmas”.

A New Season…

After my Great-grandparents passed away in 2010 and 2012 we outgrew all of my aunts houses and  my grandparents decided to rent an indoor shelter for the Thanksgiving holiday. We’ll eat dinner together and then some of us will play board games. Somehow most of the guy cousins will go outside and manage to get muddy doing something. My Grandma is very crafty, so she’ll bring a few of her craft supplies and some of us will make a craft. All while chatting and visiting with each other.

With my Dad’s family we now have a combined Thanksgiving and Christmas celebration (I like to think of it as a Thanks-mas) at some point between Thanksgiving and Christmas. We’ll have a big meal and then exchange Christmas gifts and watch a Christmas movie or two.

As time goes on things change. And that’s okay. There are still so many things to be thankful for and new memories to make each year.  I hope that each and everyone of you have a very Happy Thanksgiving! What are some of your favorite Thanksgiving memories or traditions? I’d love for you to share them in the comments below!

Until next time,

Bailey Sue