What Thanksgiving Traditions Have You Continued? by Scott Stolz, (week 22)

 

As a child, I always looked forward to Thanksgiving – almost as much as Christmas.  My fond memories of this holiday continues to make this a special holiday for me.  I grew up Urbana, IL, which was about a 20-minute drive from Chanute Air Force Base in Rantoul (although it sure seemed a lot further to the childhood version of me).  Each year, my family would host 1-2 airmen that could not go home for the holiday.  It didn’t get much cooler for a 10-year-old boy than playing pool and ping pong with an Air Force pilot.  And then I got to sit down at the dinner table with them.  I was in heaven.

 

Like most families, we had a set schedule for Thanksgiving.  My mom would start preparing the turkey around 10:00 AM.  She always cooked it in a paper bag coated on the inside and outside with butter.  Most people look at me with great confusion when I describe this turkey cooking method, but both my brother and I still carry on this tradition.  Not only does it make a perfect turkey every time, but because you can cook it at a much higher temperature in the bag, it only takes about 3 hours to cook a 15 lb. turkey.  My wife is actually not a fan of this technique.  Her Thanksgiving tradition starts with putting the turkey in the oven the night before so that she can wake up to the smell of a cooking turkey.  Therefore, we take turns each Thanksgiving.  My dad, my brother and I would leave around 11:00 AM to pick up our Air Force guests.  Of course, the Detroit Lions football game would go on shortly after we got back from Rantoul.  Lunch was light but always included New England Clam Chowder.  I’m not sure why, but I loved it, so I certainly didn’t complain.  If the weather was nice enough (it rarely was), we would go outside and throw the football around.  But normally it was a series of pool and/or ping pong matches.  Around 3:00 my mom would serve an appetizer of ritz crackers, with cream cheese, crab meat, and a little bit of cocktail sauce on top.  It might sound like a weird combination, but I guarantee you’ll love it.  It’s another tradition I continue.  Dinner was served around 4:30. That was a bit of a problem, because that was typically when the Cowboys game came on.  Thanksgiving actually turned me into a Cowboys fan since they were part of the tradition.  The turkey was always accompanied by dressing (cooked in the bird), mash potatoes, green bean casserole, gravy, pumpkin bread, and cranberry sauce (from a can of course).  Since it was a special day, my Dad would open up a bottle of Lancer’s red wine.  Fairly sure that doesn’t even exist anymore – at least I hope not. 

What does any of this have to do with retirement?  Nothing really.  Other than I have noticed that I have gotten more nostalgic as I’ve gotten older.  And the last 3 blogs have been pretty heavy with financial information.  So, I decided to take a bit of a break for this special holiday. 

What is your childhood Thanksgiving tradition that you have passed on to your kids?  Put it in the comment section below.