This week over at Meant To Be, Alaina has themed Keeping Creative Kitchens as the Thanksgiving Edition. As a kid we never had much of a Thanksgiving tradition other than making massive amounts of food and having friends over to eat. One year when we lived in Belgium we actually only had 1/2 day off of school Thanksgiving Day and had to go to school on Friday! So for this week's edition, I will write about some of the "new" traditions that our families have been doing.
My parents, in dealing with a very empty nest on Thanksgiving Day for the last eight years or so, always invite over a single airman from the Air Force base they live near, or sometimes two! They really enjoy providing a little touch of "home" to these young people, and I believe the guys that come over are very thankful not to be eating Ramen noodles on Thanksgiving day!
My brother and sister-in-law head into the mountains for Thanksgiving dinner with Cecelia's parents. After doing this for about five years, I have noticed that my brother is really excited to go home and see "Mom and Dad" and enjoys helping prepare the feast.
Our family (Patrick, Morgan, me, in-laws, and extended in-law family) have all been gathering at my in-laws' house in central West Virginia for a definite feast! This will be my 10th Thanksgiving with them, so I guess that officially qualifies as tradition! I am not one for Thanksgiving food...in fact I really dislike turkey, stuffing, cranberry anything, green bean casserole, and other traditional Thanksgiving fare. Two things that have always been present at Tenney Thanksgivings, however, are homemade macaroni and cheese (YUMMY) and Rice-a-roni (I used to think this was odd, but LOVE it, so I don't complain!). This makes Thanksgiving much more palatable for me, and I really enjoy the huge dinner, the million cooks in the kitchen, and the laughter. It has always been a great time.
Dad's family gets together the Saturday after Thanksgiving for what we dubbed "Merry Thanksgiving" our celebration of Christmas and Thanksgiving together as a family. This has changed over the years from the type of food we have been serving, from tradidional Thanksgiving meals to hors d'ouvers and sweets this year. We exchange gifts, enjoy watching all the kids in their presents frenzy, and visit together.
One tradition that I would like to start this year with the Tenneys, especially our little section of the Tenneys, is the turkey tradition that Alaina mentions in her post. I want Thanksgiving to be meaningful for Morgan as a time for family and praising God for the things he has provided over the last year. Please be sure to check out Alaina's blog for more ways to keep creative kitchens!
2 comments:
Sounds like a great way to celebrate! We get together with my extended family the Saturday after, too!
I love your traditions! This year we are heading to my in-laws along with my mom and Bethany so we'll both get to be with our families. I'm not big a lot of "traditional" Thanksgiving food either (you can keep the stuffing, cranberries, sweet potatoes, etc.) but I do love baked apples and a corn souffle so I've started bringing both of those along with me wherever we end up for Thanksgiving. When you get a chance, would you mind having Morgan send me her Christmas wish list? I feel like I'm already behind this year!
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