1. Thanksgiving Tree
It’s an annual tradition in my family that, when it gets close to Thanksgiving time, we drive around town checking out all the local tree vendors until we find the perfect Thanksgiving Tree. Something about hanging all the bright Thanksgiving lights and ornaments on the branches and putting a stuffed turkey all the way at the top really gets us in the holiday spirit. It’s not Thanksgiving without it.
2. Food
You wake up on Thanksgiving morning and everyone has individual dishes prepared for them under the Thanksgiving Tree. A beautiful sight to behold.
3. Thanksgiving Turkey
When I was younger, my mom had me convinced that the Thanksgiving Turkey was real. On Thanksgiving Eve, it would fly down from an Albany suburb and visit all the houses in the world, leaving one of its relatives behind on every doorstep to be freshly cooked for dinner. If your family was vegetarian, it would prepare a nice, big salad with some secret-recipe-Thanksgiving-Turkey-dressing as a side. I’ve grown up now and know that there obviously isn’t a real Thanksgiving Turkey, but it’s still fun to keep the silly belief going.
4. Thanksgiving Eve
The night when the Thanksgiving Turkey begins his magnificent decent is also one of the most magical nights of the year. An intimate night to be spent with either family or friends, Thanksgiving Eve is a time when everyone comes together to realize what they’re truly thankful for – each other’s food recipes.
5. Ugly Thanksgiving Sweaters
Personally, this is my favorite part of the Thanksgiving season. Going around to ugly Thanksgiving sweater parties, receiving one every other year hand-knit from my father, and just looking silly while a fancy-looking turkey chugs gravy in a fabric pattern on your chest puts a light, fun spin to things. It’s hard to not get in the holiday spirit when people who typically make fun of the ugly sweaters that you have are now laughing with you because they think you are wearing an ugly sweater ironically. That kind of solace only happens once a year, baby.
6. Secret Gobble Gobble
As everyone knows, Secret Gobble Gobble is a tradition where a group of people put their names together and randomly select one person to cook something for. I don’t even know why I have to explain it when we all do it every year! Last year’s Secret Gobble Gobble was the best – my aunt prepared some buttered mashed potatoes that were part mashed potatoes and part Nutella delight. Getting a great dish courtesy of the person who randomly drew your name out of a hat is what Thanksgiving is all about. Thank you, Secret Gobble Gobble.
7. Thanksgiving Music
While it’s frustrating that these tunes play immediately after Halloween and continue on until after the New Year, blaring iconic songs like “Grandma Got Run Over By a Gravy Truck” or “Yazmin the Yellow-Shaded Yam” on the radio is kind of magical. Try to deny it all you want, your heart comes alive when those Thanksgiving songs start playing. You’re not human if you can hear “Little Drumstick Boy” and not break out into song.
8. Time With Family
Sitting around a roaring fire with your family on Thanksgiving morning, maybe having returned from an early Thanksgiving mass, and getting to take one bite of your food before the next person gets their turn. It’s a tough system – you want to take all your bites now but you can’t. You don’t know whether to take the biggest bite first or save it for last. Either way, you love every second of it because you’re spending time with your family… and eating your food.
9. Mistleturkey
If there’s a special someone in your life and you don’t really know how to approach them, if you need a little spice in your life, or if your marriage has gone completely stagnant and the occasional kiss on the lips is all you can do to forget about your problems temporarily and prevent a cruel divorce, then mistleturkey is your guaranteed best friend. If two people meet up underneath it, the mistleturkey – which, as we all know, is just a very small turkey perched in a turkey’s nest made from a very small plant – will gobble, and then it’s time to smooch. Usually a good time. Not a good time when it’s a family-only type of party.
10. Snowy Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is officially the snowiest holiday of the year. You don’t hear anybody talking about the Snowfalls of New Year, or dreaming about a White Christmas; no, you hear everybody getting excited for Snowy Thanksgiving. My little sister and I love to go play outside after all the meals have been eaten, build snow forts and have snowball fights with each other, and even creating Zacharias the Snowturkey if we feel up to the task. Zacharias is such a hoot.
11. Turkey Legs
We all know that Thanksgiving is great for food, but it’s worth singling out the Turkey Legs – you can hang them on your Thanksgiving Tree, you can throw them in as part of someone’s Thanksgiving appetizer, and they’re the perfect snack. Plus, they’re colored white and red, which is cool to see since actual turkey legs are typically not.
12. Thanksgiving TV Specials
Not only are Yazmin the Yellow-Shaded Yam and Zacharias the Snowturkey famous Thanksgiving icons, they’re also stars of some heartwarming Thanksgiving TV specials. Gather around the ol’ tube and watch Yazmin prove to all of the other yams that she can still be helpful to the Thanksgiving Turkey even though she looks different from everyone else. It makes me cry every time.