Thanksgiving

One of my colleagues told me about a report that said that between Thanksgiving and Christmas, New Englanders typically gain more weight than any other geographical corner of the United States because the holidays are more traditional here.

This makes some sense, especially since we have the weather that corresponds to the holidays. Brisk fall days around Thanksgiving with wildly colored trees and snow touched backyards for Christmas.

I’m interested in hearing about what Thanksgiving is like in other parts of the U.S. Is Thanksgiving as big a deal in southern Cali as it is in Boston suburbs?

comments welcome

13 thoughts on “Thanksgiving

  • 11/22/2006 at 8:42 am
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    I was born, still live, and plan to die a New Englander, so I cannot speak from actual experience. However, I can provide anecdotal evidence. My coworker, who is originally from California, in the vicinity of Sacremento, is not going home for Thanksgiving. He isn’t having family over for Thanksgiving. He isn’t going to see friends for Thanksgiving. He’s driving up to Montreal, where they don’t have Thanksgiving. This baffles me. But, I suppose, to each his own…

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  • 11/22/2006 at 9:04 am
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    In North Dakota, we had about as extreme a thanksgiving as thanksgivings get. Everybody showed up at my grandparent’s house (two great-aunts/uncles, 9 aunts and uncles, 10 grandchildren) and massive food consumption following by passing out on the carpet surrounded by relatives. I distinctly remember watching “Coming to America” on USA while throwing around tiny cousins and getting harassed by my uncle for having a lame haircut. I miss it bad.

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  • 11/22/2006 at 9:26 am
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    I don’t know about New England, but here in Old England (or “England Classic(TM)”), hardly anyone celebrates Thanksgiving at all.

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  • 11/22/2006 at 11:17 am
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    Actually they do have Thanksgiving in Canada, but they have theirs in October. So it’s just not Thanksgiving there this week. Interesting…did you know that the US and Canada are the only countries that have an official national day of Thanksgiving?

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  • 11/22/2006 at 11:21 am
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    Well I’m in the midwest but not surrounded by heaps of family. So it’s not the huge traditional get-together you read about in books or see on TV. Some years we have the traditional Thanksgiving pizza. But usually it’s turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, and the one staple is my family’s super secret pumpkin pie recipe. Oh, and watching the parade if the kids haven’t taken over the TV and put in a Disney movie.

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  • 11/24/2006 at 11:43 am
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    Thanksgiving pizza? Weird. When did that tradition start?

    We went to my in-laws’ for Thanksgiving, where it’s somewhat more traditional. My husband’s siblings and their families were there. We all live within a ten-mile radius, so it wasn’t really a big deal to have everyone together. We had real Thanksgiving food: turkey stuffing, cranberry-orange relish, pumpkin pie, etc.

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  • 11/24/2006 at 11:14 pm
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    I am all the way out in Seattle, and we most definitely always do the lots of family, LOTS of food, and heaping way too many people on the couches for food coma / storytelling time. We switch off years between my mom’s side of the family (which is a reasonably smaller, but still fabulous and entertaining, celebration) and my dad’s side of the family. Dad is Italian. There is no difference between first cousin and third cousin. We’re all close and all just simply, ‘cousins’. And my cousins’ parents are often referred to as aunts and uncles, despite the true connections. This year, I would estimate about 50 of our closest relatives gathered for an ‘intimate’ Thanksgiving dinner at my great aunt and uncle’s house. The food included: 4 types of salad and other appetizers first, 4 turkeys, 2 kinds of stuffing, 2 kinds of mashed potatoes, 2 kinds of sweet potatoes, rolls, veggies (which got burned…oops), some salmon (the Seattle touch!) and finally 3 pumpkin pies, mincemeat pie, pecan pie, apple pie, lemon merangue pie, ice cream bars (huh?), and the Italian touch: chocolate filled biscotti (soooo goooood). Following this we all laid around for a few hours and swapped stories, interrupted by the periodic kid playing tag. Ahhhh, good times!!

    As further info on Thanksgiving across the U.S., most of my friends out here in Sea-town also gather with family and/or friends for Thanksgiving dinner – and it’s fairly traditional from what I hear.

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  • 11/24/2006 at 11:16 pm
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    oops….that post was longer than I intended…I’ll work on the conciseness thing.

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  • 11/25/2006 at 1:42 pm
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    I have to say I would like to go to a Thanksgiving dinner some time because all that food sounds SO GOOD.

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  • 11/25/2006 at 3:46 pm
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    Apparently it’s also a Seattle thanksgiving tradition to visit a New Englander’s website and write a novel. :-)

    For the second year in a row, I took the entire week off and flew from Seattle to Kansas (no escape to Thanksgiving-less Vancouver, for instance). In Kansas, it’s the usual. People gather at the grandparents’ place on the farm, eat the usual foods, watch the usual football games, and eat the usual leftovers.

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  • 11/26/2006 at 1:08 pm
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    We had the turkey feast this year Jes. Thanksgiving Pizza started about 5 years ago when I didn’t feel like making a huge turkey for just a few people. What’s the point of a feast for 3-5 people? Some years I just don’t feel like celebrating, though pumpkin pie is always welcome in my home.

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  • 11/27/2006 at 11:59 am
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    It must have been four years ago then. Pizza is delicious anytime, but I prefer turkey on Thanksgiving.

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