Gather 'Round the Table - Your Thanksgiving Traditions
By Anthony Todd in Food on Nov 22, 2010 7:40PM
On Mondays, we invite our readers to gather around our table and discuss a culinary issue of the day. If you have anything you'd like to talk about, send it to anthony@chicagoist.com
Thanksgiving is, bar none, my favorite holiday. First and foremost, I love Thanksgiving because it is all about food! More importantly, it is not fraught with any of the baggage that weighs down most other special days. While it has religious roots, they aren't mandatory, and the holiday has become more nationalist than religious. There is no mandatory gift-giving, few decorations, and almost no pressure to perform outside of the kitchen. It is a day for family, friends and the eating of yams, and I look forward to it every year.
One of the reasons I love Thanksgiving so much is that it is steeped in small traditions. Every family has its own Thanksgiving rituals, some big and some small. Some watch football, some go out for a huge breakfast. Some eat their turkey early or late, some call it stuffing and some call it dressing. Some line up outside the door at Walmart before crushing people to death, and others avoid the shopping rush and sleep in.
In my family, we have a number of traditions outsiders would be confused by. Despite having no New York connections, we always watch the Macy's parade, mainly so my father can be confused by the young celebrities and make disparaging comments about the singers. Thanks to our Italian roots, the middle of the day (pre-turkey) is filled with antipasti. Right after the parade ends, our traditional Thanksgiving movie is Miracle on 34th Street, both because of the continuity (parade to parade) and because it begins on . . . Thanksgiving, making it the perfect film for the transition to the holiday season.
What are your "strange" traditions? What sets your family apart from every other? Maybe you've created your own traditions, far from your roots, or perhaps you have been doing the same thing for 50 years. Start talking!