Has your Facebook feed be filled with daily posts of the thankful since Nov. 1? I like seeing that so many people are thankful for so much this time of year, but as one of my Facebook friends pointed out, some of these thankful people are running out of steam. Grasping at straws, even. I mean, when you’re down to posting that your thankful for thankfulness, well…
I haven’t participated in this fad this month just because I try to be thankful every day of every year. And sometimes the things I’m thankful for won’t even make sense to other people, so it’s best to just keep it between me and God.
But to all of you posting about gratefulness–keep it up. I’d love to see this become a regular thing and not just a “Thanksgiving Season” thing.
If you’re struggling with thankfulness this year, you might want to check out 1000 Gifts by Ann Voskamp. It will certainly inspire you.
Part of this tradition of thankfulness is gathering with family and friends to celebrate over FOOD.
So, I have some questions for you–
What time is Thanksgiving dinner traditionally served in your family?
Is your table full of the traditional stuff like green bean casserole and cranberry sauce from a can, or is does it hold gourmet recipes that change each year?
What is your favorite Thanksgiving food?
What is your favorite Thanksgiving tradition?
Here are my responses:
The time we eat varies each year based on who is coming and what time they arrive. This year we’re eating around lunch time. Last year it was dinner time. I prefer earlier in the day so that I can have a leftover turkey sandwich that night.
Our table has the traditional staples like turkey and dressing, but my mom is practically a gourmet chef, so while the recipes contain ingredients that you’ll find on a traditional table, like corn, sweet potatoes, and green beans, the recipes vary from year to year. All of us grown-up girls make items to contribute, too.
My favorite Thanksgiving food is dressing. Yummy, yum, yum, yum.
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is watching the Macy’s Parade on TV. I’ve never missed it. I love that parade so much, and someday I’d like to go see it live. I hope that someday my boys will remember watching it with me.
Need a delicious dessert for your holiday table? Here’s what I’m making this year. It is, by far, the best cake I’ve ever eaten.
FYI– I use a box mix for the cake and leave out the coffee from the recipe. YUM-O.
Raspberry Chocolate Cake from Taste of Home
Share with me: Answer the questions I asked above and share any wonderful recipes you have, if you wish!
Hale and Hearty Words 
Jenny, we have a traditional Thanksgiving with all the trimmings. (And this year we’re having three! Yikes!) We did have a very un-traditional Thanksgiving one year, and it was deelish. Crab legs. Mounds and mounds of them. With loads of melted butter. Yummo!
I pray your holiday is blessed. 🙂
Crab legs?? Yep, that’s pretty non-traditional! Happy Thanksgiving to you, too, Cynthia!
We usually eat a late lunch. Our Thanksgiving is usually pretty small–five adults and three kids, but it’s relaxed and wonderful. My mom makes cornbread sage stuffing, which I love. We’re not making the big turkey this year. We’re having a ham and a little turkey breast. I’m looking forward to it.
I love a small, intimate family gathering! Ours is usually small, too– my boys are the only kids (my siblings don’t have kids yet) but this year we’ve got my grandmother coming in from Florida and some other friends, so it should be a little livelier than normal!
Ours is pretty traditional, and my fave food is cornbread dressing. I make my mom’s recipe every year and bring it. It’s sort of a cool way to remember her on the holiday.
Lindsay– I LOVE that. I bet that you’ll find that once you have kids, you’ll see so much of your mom in how you mother– from her cooking to her discipline and wisdom!
Long time no hear from you! 🙂
Thanksgiving dinner is usually served around 3:00 or 4:00 around my place. Sometimes more like 2:00ish. But we too love our leftover sandwhiches later that night!
We usually have all the traditional stuff–Turkey, cranberry sauce (homemade though–no cans!), sweet potatoes, salad, stuffing, green beans, pie….yeah we’re pretty boring. 😉
My favorite Thanksgiving food is….um………….all of it! Haha, actually it’s a tie between cranberry sauce (ours is the best–my sis usually makes it), the sweet Hawaiian rolls that we only get around Thanksgiving, or the turkey itself. 🙂
Favorite Thanksgiving tradition? Well, we don’t really have any except that we always eat and we usually watch the football game (this year one of the games is our team–Go Patriots!). But my favorite one has to be the nine pm turkey-and-cranberry-sauce sandwiches. 🙂 Mmm.
My mouth is watering. Any chance you want to share that cranberry sauce recipe??? 🙂
I’d share it if I knew it. 😉
Love this post!
We eat when the food is ready. Sometimes it’s at the time I said we’d eat — and sometimes it’s not.
My favorite Thanksgiving food: It has to be the turkey, followed in a close second by my mother-in-law’s homemade cranberry relish (both raw and cooked).
Favorite tradition: The “there’s always room for one more” tradition that started when we were a military family. We never know how many will be sitting down to eat at our table — but we always know there will be more than our family and we like to include folks who are away from family.
Beth– I love that. We’ve shared many a Thanksgiving with others over the years when we were a military family, too! I remember one year when we served dinner to the soldiers in the mess hall. I was maybe, 10, and I thought it was the coolest thing ever!
Happy Thanksgiving, Jennifer.
Our daughter, a German-French major home for a visit, is going to make Chicken Schnitzel for us. While I like turkey, I’m looking forward to this non-traditional fare.