With Thanksgiving around the corner I thought it would be nice to move the conversation to somthing beyond elections and development for a short time. I would like to pose the question: “What are your cool Thanksgiving Traditions”.
One of my traditions, for the past several years, is to cook Thanksgiving Dinner with a friend of mine. We invite our families, friends and co-workers, especially those we encounter that are not from the US and did not grow up with this holiday. Our annual two day cooking adventure requires some upfront planning that starts shortly after the Thursday meal with many discussions on the theme of the next year. We research recipes, gathering of ingredients and begin cooking the day before Thanksgiving. This year’s theme is Moroccan Thanksgiving featuring Couscous with Cranberries and Turkey Tagine. We have tackled traditional menus, Mexican foods and 1621 using only ingredients available to the Pilgrims.
Please share your traditions for foods, activities and any other thoughts about this holiday.
For many years, some Newton friends of mine had a long running tradition of Thanksgiving in Chinatown. They would gather up Thanksgiving refugees, friends with no family nearby, and like Groot, friends from elsewhere that didn’t grow up with Thanksgiving. They’d have a big Chinese feast at a different restaurant in Chinatown every year. My favorite detail was the year that invitations arrived in the mail – a small box of fortune cookies. Inside the cookies a message “Thanksgiving in Chinatown, be there or be square”.
We never joined them for the Chinatown feast since we were always at my family’s celebration but we usually caught up with them back in Newton later on for deserts.
I will once again, make a Turkey and trimmings for a luncheon for the Greater Boston Chinese Cultural Association’s Elder’s Club Thanksgiving lunch. The Elder’s Club is an extension of the Greater Boston Chinese Cultural Association located on Cherry Street in West Newton serving the Chinese elder population in Newton and the greater Boston suburbs.
Our typical family tradition is total chaos at the dinner table, with dishes being passed over and above one’s elbow partner amidst much cackling and “Pass the…”; “Where’s the…?”; “I forgot to bring the…!”; “Oh, who cares?”. This never happens at any other meal during the year – only on Thanksgiving.
Many years ago when my husband first witnessed this chaos, he suggested a solution – an orderly means of distributing the various dishes. The family let him know in no uncertain terms that he was taking the fun out of the day and THAT wasn’t happening. This Thursday we’ll host 22 people – sons and their wives/fiancee, sisters, brothers-in-law, nieces and nephews and their spouses, great-nephews (including a brand new one!) and so far have 20 chairs. We’ll all have a seat at the table – or we’ll be a few short – but it will be great fun.
If you are an authentic football fan, Newton now boasts two very good high school football programs. On Thanksgiving morning, South will be hosting Lincoln-Sudbury. North will play away in Brookline. Both games are at 10AM. Each game not only represents the last game of the season for each team, but will also be the last games played by the seniors. It will, if anything, stimulate your appetite.
And if you’re both a football and baseball fan, the Needham Rockets are playing Wellesley at Fenway Park on Thursday morning!
Fine, Greg from NNCoC, trying to get us to watch two enemy towns play in a dense urban setting
(THAT IS A JOKE FOLKS).
I have made a habit of going to the North/Brookline (at NU’s Parsons field, btw)- it will be fun bittersweet this year as my son is a senior and many of his friends will be playing in their last game.
As a kid, my Mom would always haul out the good china, silverware and crystal for the holiday. The one thing she lacked for her fancy dinner table was a set of fancy salt and pepper shakers. So every time the family and friends sat down for dinner, there were no condiments on the table. She would look at my Dad and say, “Ronald, you forgot the salt and pepper shakers”. My Dad would get up, go into the kitchen and bring out the every day shakers and put them on the table. In mock exasperation, Mom would say, “Not those….but oh well, they will have to do!”It was the long time family joke. In later years, we finally got Mom a beautiful set of crystal and sterling silver shakers….she never used them!
Where is this place called “Needham?”
Doug: Good luck to you and your son. Was in your shoes last year.
@Doug. It seems like only yesterday that your son was at Cabot.
Our family often hits the road for Thanksgiving. The traffic is never fun; seeing how many times we can catch “Alice’s Restaurant” on the radio is a long standing tradition. But one of my favorite partd of Thanksgiving, going back to when I was a teenager, might actually be Wednesday night. That’s when the baking and the prep work for the really tasty stuff that will be on the table the next day happens. I like the Wednesday night camaraderie — even the emergency runs to the Waban Market — and knowing that the daily hustle and bustle is coming to a halt for a few days.
Happy Thanksgiving to all you Village 14’ers.