Redartz: Well, it's Thanksgiving week here in the USofA, and it's a bit outside the usual (as everything seems to be this year). Preparations for the holiday season are underway, albeit with many adjustments for the ongoing pandemic. Anyway, it's got me thinking both backward and forward- about holiday preparations in the past, and what we're doing this year.
Thanksgiving in our family was pretty much like many other families' observances. We had relatives over , or piled into Dad's car and hit the road. We kids didn't have much to do other than to watch the parades on tv all morning, while the adults worked on dinner.
Dinner itself was traditional, Turkey, cranberry sauce, yams, green bean casserole and pumpkin pie. Of course this dinner was served on two tables, the 'Adult' table and the 'Kids' table. It was a source of personal accomplishment when I was finally able to sit at the table with the big folks...
Black Friday, was also part of the tradition at our house. Each year we got up super early, drove to the Mall (often a big one in another town; our local mall was pretty modest). Once there we joined the throngs in shopping, lugging bags, awaiting seating space in the food court, and trying to recall where we had parked. Again, being kids, we didn't have the headache of writing the checks; we just enjoyed all the hubbub (and the window shopping, and the decorations...}.
Long story short, Thanksgiving at our house was a grand entry into the Holiday Season, and basically lasted from Thursday through Sunday. The excitement generated carried us through until New Year's. But what about this year? Again, like many households, ours will be doing things differently. A much smaller dinner. No plans for Black Friday shopping, although I may do some online browsing. However, I do plan to start decorating over the weekend. At least that much tradition can be retained!
And now it's your turn. What memories do you have of Thanksgiving, and /or the Holiday Season in general (knowing that Thanksgiving is a US phenomenon, basically)? What traditions did your family have to prepare for the Season? And what are you doing this year? Personally, it's been quite a tough year, but despite that (or perhaps because of it) I'm rather looking forward to the holidays more than usual. Like they sang in "Mame", "we need a little Christmas, right this very minute...".
