I grew up with an abundance of raucous and rowdy cousins who I adore to this day. I was most definitely blessed to always spend the three major holidays — Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter — with them.
While I’m sure that through the years there was an impromptu football game or two on Thanksgiving (weather be darned), two traditions seemed to be a holiday fixture after the feasting.
First, my father would gather and bundle up all the cousins for our annual walk around the neighborhood. I remember how I thought it was so cool to be walking in the cool/cold dark evening hours with the smell of wood smoke in the air.
Although we couldn’t have named it, there was a sense of silent sacredness in the air that made us all want to talk in whispers.
Our second tradition came when we returned home and got to work building our annual haunted house in my uncle’s basement. This mostly consisted of hanging sheets on clotheslines, flashlights and what we thought were scary noises.
Part of the fun was convincing the adults, still in a turkey-induced stupor, to come down the stairs and pretend to be scared, yet immensely impressed.
This was our family, and this is what we did, year after year. Although we’re all well into adulthood now, I suspect my cousin Greg still does the haunted house thing, but that’s another story.
What traditions have become important parts of your family Thanksgiving tradition?
Nancy Martinelli, Dyer: My mother hated turkey; couldn’t even stand the smell of it. So, because we were a totally Italian family, she reasoned, we always had her homemade spaghetti and meatballs for Thanksgiving dinner, together with roasted Italian sausage and her famous garlic bread. We stunk of garlic for days afterward! Mom’s been gone now for over a decade, but my brother Steve still makes a big pot of her “gravy,” and we have spaghetti as a side dish with our turkey.
Kevin McQuaid, Crown Point: We didn’t find out until after my mom died, but she kept a journal of our Thanksgiving celebrations since she first married our dad. Mom would list who was present, what was on the menu that day, and the things for which she was grateful that year. Family meant a lot to her; she would even note if family members got into an argument, which seemed to happen frequently. My wife found mom’s journals to be so precious that she has now continued the tradition.
Bri Kennison, Merrillville: Down the block, in our little hometown, was a small roadside diner. In order to get my brothers and me out from underfoot in the kitchen on Thanksgiving, my dad would roust us out of bed and take us to the diner for a big breakfast. We’d laugh, talk and just enjoy each other and our dad. It was a special tradition, not only for us, but certainly for our dad too.
Nan Hansen, Hobart: After dinner is always a trying time for the kids. Because they tend to be so wound up, my mom came up with a way to make them sit for a while and do something creative. Mom would buy some inexpensive craft items, make a sample and then have the kids make their own ornament for their Christmas trees that year. Mom’s close to 90 now, but she still insists on going to the craft store right before Thanksgiving to buy supplies for the kids.
Our topic for our Dec. 1 column will be how to keep the kids physically active during the oncoming winter months. Share your tips with your neighbors by emailing me at zocbo51@aol.com.
