Thanksgiving Day family traditions, when to buck them

Since my step-father's heart attack last year, things just haven't been the same. He won't eat like he used to, and he now lives on a diet that is low sodium & fat free. My mom is the ULTIMATE cook, and even with all the changes we've had to sacrifice, the food is still good, only healthier. So in our family, we welcome change...it can sometimes be good for you!

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A Cajun seafood dinner sounds great! I hope the small changes in routine

My husband's grandfather was a family leader as it sounds like your father was, and for five or six years after his death my husband's mom made lasagna for Thanksgiving dinner--for the same reasons you're talking about. Now, almost ten years later, I think they're back to the usual Thanksgiving array.

I hope the "break" helps you and your family.

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A few years back after moving far from my own family, I shared TG day with my new found friends, who happen to all be from Boston. What a treat it turned out to be! I had no idea that people in Mass do TG dinner so differently! There was lobster, shrimp and crab (oh my!) galore! We had a great time and it's one of my favorite holiday memories. (and the food was superb!)

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I haven't changed too much from the menu I grew up with except that for the past almost 30 years I've been the one doing the cooking and my kids (with their kids) usually come to dinner. The youngest generation already lives with me of course. If I skip one dish it's always someone's favorite and I hear about it.

I cheat more than I once did though and this year my son's family (including all the steps will be gone).

Cheers to your good friend. Sounds like the perfect thing.

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The Christmas after my mum and stepdad divorced - during my main school exams (yeeha), my mum, sister and I decamped to Venezuala for the holiday season (we live in the UK). It was our first holiday together after the split - all our previous holidays for 10 years had been to or near my stepdad's family home (nr Lakefield, Ontario - so not so bad, but getting tedious for teenagers!). The previous Christmas had been the most awful day in our lives thus far, with tears and tension and general pre-divorce nastiness.

Instead of the previously-fraught and tense unenjoyable turkey and tantrums, we had plantain fritters and fish chowder on a desert island in the middle of the Carribean, followed by a trip to Angel Falls and jaguars (real ones) in the jungle. Incredible just doesn't come close. It was the type of holiday my stepdad would never have been on, and more importantly - a total break with 'tradition'. Something that gave us back our Christmas so that we could enjoy it again, and have good memories of it as well as those bad ones the year previously.

Now my husband and I do an 'alternative' Christmas every 2 or 3 years, so that we never get in the Christmas 'rut' it's so easy to sink into, with no arguing over whose parents we visit (his are in NZ, so that's a commitment in itself) or where we spend it. This year we're doing the 'traditional' one at my mum's, as our son will be old enough to appreciate it.

Have a fantastic Thanksgiving, and enjoy those shrimp!

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We have fondue for Thanksgiving. I've never really been into the holiday, and since we have three young kids, traveling is a huge hassle, so we do things our way. Tomorrow we're having lobster, filet mignon, and tiger prawns in a red wine broth.

The best part is, I do no major cooking! Of course, my one concession to old traditions is pumpkin pie with cool whip. Mmm, yummy.

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It's so good to hear about the many variations. Thank you for sharing.


Happy Thanksgiving to everybody!

heather

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