What does your Thanksgiving table look like? Is it bursting with classic dishes of roasted turkey, savory stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn, cranberries, and pumpkin pie? Perhaps you do something completely out of the box and your Thanksgiving spread is made up of family favorite’s such as pizza, hamburgers, lasagna, and more? No matter if the holiday menu is traditional or non-traditional, I bet you set your very own spin on it to make the day unique!
Thanksgiving Day Dinner
Thanksgiving Day dinner in our home is the same year after year. Hubby and I stumble out of bed early in the morning to get the turkey ready for the oven. Typically he does the dirty work and reaches in the bird to pull out the bag of disgusting stuff located in the cavities. I accidentally left the plastic bag filled with the giblets inside the turkey ONE TIME in 21 years, which ruined the main star of the feast. He has not forgotten that tiny incident, deems me turkey incompetent, and oversees the whole bird preparation. Certainly I cannot blame his insecurities considering we could not figure out why the turkey tasted a bit like chewing a rubber ducky until he looked inside the turkey’s rear and it was shiny like a plastic toy. Yup, I will never live that one down! After the turkey is safely in the oven we go back to bed for a few hours and then I get up to make the rest of the yummy side dishes including stuffing, homemade mashed potatoes, Green Bean Casserole, vegetable tray, and Rye Boat Dip and bread tray.
Perfect Table Setting
While the turkey is cooking I set the table to get it ready for the feast. I usually place out the same dishes every year, but this year I want to make the table look especially inviting! Target has everything needed to set the perfect table including these festive Mercury Glass dishes, Ombre Glasses, and Pretty Platters!
New Traditions
This Thanksgiving my mother’s new husband will be joining us for the first time, so it marks a special beginning for the entire family. I want his first Thanksgiving with us to be exceptionally memorable and unique. I was even thinking about starting a new tradition of having everyone at the table share a quality they love about the family member sitting at their right and why they are particularly thankful for that person to be in their life. It would be a great way for the family to kick off the holiday season by showing gratitude for each other. I was also thinking of getting Thanksgiving ecards here to send to friends and family I will not be seeing to let them know I am thankful for them.
“My Kind of Holiday”
Target recently launched a “My Kind of Holiday” campaign designed to inspire traditions with the notion that no matter what your beliefs are, it is your Holiday to make unique. Keeping within this theme, I thought about how I could put my own twist on Thanksgiving that might be slightly different than last year. The worst and I do mean the WORST part of the day is the cleanup. By the time the meal is over and everyone has hit the food coma no one likes to have to deal with the mess of having to put away the leftovers and dirty dishes. With that in mind, I thought about having a pumpkin challenge. The adult who is able to toss the pumpkin the farthest gets pardoned from kitchen duty. It would be a fun activity and also put those useless rotting squashes to good use!
Old Traditions
By the time everyone is done overeating and the natural sedative of tryptophan has taken full effect— all we want to do is sit down, relax, and watch a few good festive movies. It might not seem like much of a tradition, but it is what we enjoy and it is usually family Christmas flicks.
Thanksgiving Day in Your Home?
What new traditions are you planning this year? How do you make the holiday unique?
Content and/or other value provided by our partner, Target.
I love shopping at Target! They always have the cutest holiday and home decor. I also really like those Mercury Glass dishes and Ombre glasses
As for traditions, I don’t have any new traditions planned this holiday season but I do have a new addition to have my family…a grandson born on 11/7.:) I also plan on making the holiday unique this year by changing up the meal plan a bit and the decorations.
This year I will be making the entire Thanksgiving dinner myself. I’ve actually been trying to come up with some ideas for traditions we can create as a family. I definitely want to make sure the holiday is about more than just the food…as delicious as it is.
I am actually making my first Thanksgiving this year. I have always helped my mom in the past, but this one will be at our house with me making the turkey. I hope it is edible!
we are very traditional,,I do remember hosting my first thanksgiving after my mom said it was time that I took over,,,my Daddy was carving,an he always called me”sister” he said Sister,,did you forget to do something,,I said I don’t think so Daddy,,he said welllllllllllllllll,,,you were supposed to take the bag of giblets an the neck out before you cooked it,,omg,,I had left all that suff inside the turkey,,I didn’t know it had things inside it,,,made for a good laugh an he asked me every year until he passed if the turkey was carrying any extra cargo?
Those table settings are beautiful! We always have the same family members that do the cooking each year for Thanksgiving. That’s our tradition. We also always get the same chocolate eclairs from our favorite local bakery for dessert.
We used to have all kinds of Thanksgiving traditions, but now that everyone gets older and the kids start their own families it’s harder and harder to keep those traditions going. So now, usually, my wife and I use the holiday to take a vacation.
We typically have a traditional Thanksgiving in our home, but I am always on the hunt for new decor!
I don’t think we will be starting any new traditions this year. Usually every year, my boys watch the Macy’s parade while I cook.
Same old tradition, thanksgiving dinner at my parents house!!! She has all her thanksgiving decor out around!
We are a little untraditional for Thanksgiving. First, I don’t eat turkey, at all. Second, our oven doesn’t work. Usually we celebrate our dinner by ordering in Chinese food. Each to his own, right? Happy Thanksgiving! (And are those table settings GORGEOUS!!!!!)
Don’t feel bad my sister also left the bag in the turkey one year. Boy did she get ribbed but we all laughed and enjoyed the rest of the meal. To us that made Thanksgiving that much more memorable. We have a pretty traditional Thanksgiving except we invite friends not just family that we know that do not have family near by or none at all. We do things a little different because we have so many for Thanksgiving here. We have the potatoes, carrots and onions all peeled and in water the night before. We set the pans in the frig and when it comes time to start those dishes we just pull from the frig and put them on the stove. This frees up the stove burners to make stuffing, squash ,turnip and more. I also use my big cooker to do the turkey in so that way I have the oven to do the green bean casserole and yeast rolls.