Family Traditions on Thanksgiving

[Hillbilly stalker]

Thought it mite be a good time to travel back a little. What’s some of y’all’s older family traditions on turkey day ? Do you still practice them ? I’m a little slow on cutting them loose, they mean a lot. We sure didn’t have much money, but we were far from poor.
We all always got together at maw maw & paw paws house, big family gathering. Two things happened back in the hills on Thanksgiving. We usually had a big family rabbit hunt and killed a hog. It was usually about one of the coldest days, had plenty help around to scald & scrape. Women folk ruled the kitchen and cooked pert near all day. When the women hollered it was ready, we went. An elder always said grace and man we threw down. Food fit for a king, turkey, ham, mashed taters & gravy, sweet taters, green beans, creamed corn, slaw, beets and bout anything else you could imagine. After the feast, the menfolk would set in lawn chairs in the front yard and whittle. Lots of knowledge passed around and always several Jack tales. Man I sure miss them old timers and old ways. Do y’all still practice any ol family traditions ?

 

[basstrkr]

Old timers? I looked around and it was me! We've held on to them for long time time but they are dwindling now. Mostly due to age and medical issues and laziness. Used to do dove hunts on TG morning. MY BIL used to run a meat processing house, we helped with cow slaughtering weekly so theres that. We did Fla. fishing trips a few years.

 

[fflintlock]

My grandparents always butchered lard hogs on Thanksgiving. Never had a turkey. They'd cook it all down in a huge cast iron kettle then pack it in large clay pots. Pour that lard over top it and called good. As they got older, they quit butcher'n, not enough help ever came around.

 

[specialk]

Only tradition was just family getting together and eating turkey.....

 

[cramer]

My Son and I would go deer hunting in the morning and dodge bucks on the road home about noon. Each year vowing to stay 30 minutes longer.
Then help out with meal prep.
That came to a halt when he joined the Marines. I think he may have gone with me twice since, but he has 3 little ones and a wife now.
I go by myself, and think about when they are ready to go with me.
I passed on a buck around 8am this Thanksgiving. I gave thanks to the Lord for the show as the buck passed within 15 ft of me sniffing the ground while I was in a 12' tripodin one of my favorite spots.
Wind was perfect.

 

[TJay]

I was born in Indiana, so it was usually pretty cold on Thanksgiving. Family would start showing up early and Mom and aunts and such would be cooking and us kids would be in the way and annoying the cooks and eventually Mom would say "you kids go outside and play". So what I remember is standing around outside with my cousins and such freezing our butts off waiting for the ok to come back in the house.

 

[DannyW]

Things have changed over the years, but 3 things were and still are a constant. Turkey, cornbread dressing and gravy. I'm proud to say that I have been elected the provider of these items for the Thanksgiving dinner the past few years, and while I usually overcook the turkey (man, a turkey can go from 150 degrees to 180 degrees in about 3 minutes!), I'd put my dressing and gravy up against anybody's!

My grandparents didn't butcher the pigs on Thanksgiving, they went by the best day according to the Farmer's Almanac. My granddaddy considered that the bible.

 

[GeorgiaGlockMan]

Only tradition was just family getting together and eating turkey.....

That's about all we have left here too but no complaints from me.

When I was a kid growing up in Irving tx, dad, an uncle/Godfather and me used to go watch the dallas cowboys play at the old Texas stadium.

These days I am glad that old stadium building is tore down. Reminds me that the feetballs I grew up with is dead.

 

[Paymaster]

Our tradition at Thanksgiving has evolved over the years. Last 20 or so is camping and doing our meal outdoors. Thanksgiving in the Woods.

 

[fireman32]

My daddy’s side of the family has always been few in number. Grandpa, grandma, daddy, me, my one aunt and a great aunt would gather at my grandparents house. Grandma did almost all of the cooking with the other two ladies bringing a side or two. Grandma wasn’t a slouch in the kitchen either, one of the finest soul food cooks that ever lived.
Me and daddy would always camp and hunt the few days I was out of school, come home for Thanksgiving lunch, eat and visit a while, then head back to camp.

 

[fflintlock]

I was born in Indiana, so it was usually pretty cold on Thanksgiving. Family would start showing up early and Mom and aunts and such would be cooking and us kids would be in the way and annoying the cooks and eventually Mom would say "you kids go outside and play". So what I remember is standing around outside with my cousins and such freezing our butts off waiting for the ok to come back in the house.

What, no snowball fights or sledding?

 

[mguthrie]

What, no snowball fights or sledding?

When there was snow. The snow in Ohio didn’t really stick around long until January. Most Christmas,s we didn’t have snow.

 

[NCHillbilly]

When I was growing up, me and Dad and my uncles always went rabbit hunting on Thanksgiving morning. Then back to my grandparent's house for the feast. Now, my dad and my uncles and grandparents are gone, and I no longer have beagles. My mom is almost 90 and can't cook or do much of anything else any more. We just get what's left of the family together and enjoy some good food and visiting with each other. Me and my sister and my wife cook now instead of mom and grandama.

 

[TJay]

Yeah not much snow in November. If my cousins forgot to bring their ball glove that was out. Sometimes we'd throw the football and we would almost always "wrassle".

 

[Nicodemus]

Thanksgiving Day and the weekend after was a time for hunting when I was a youngun. Hog killin` had been done earlier in November, all the fieldwork was over, corn was safely in the crib, and it was time for hitting the swamp. Turkeys, wood ducks, and squirrels in the first years, and deer when we finally got a season on them. The womenfolk did all the cooking and food preparation. Later on after I was grown I`d cut my hunt short on Thanksgiving morning so I could get in and start frying a turkey. As far back as I could remember dinner would be fried wild turkey breast, dumplins made with the rest of the bird, dressing, giblet gravy, greens, peas, green bean casserole and several other assorted casseroles, biscuits, and sweet tater pies. After the fall turkey season was ended tame turkeys made their way on the table and chicken replaced the turkey in the dumplins.

Good times.

 

[Core Lokt]

Cornbread dressing and giblet gravy!! All of the older family folks are gone and so are some of the traditions I hate to say it. . We still have about 15-20 family members get together and have a big cook and eat'n. I hunt Wed-Sun either duck or deer. Getting ready to get the grandson out in the woods and on the water with me. Not Liam, Tanner he is 7