I stumbled upon this article about Thanksgiving traditions, and it made me think of one of our time honored traditions. Cranberry sauce. Like the writer of the article, one member of our family has always been loyal to the canned cranberry sauce. My mother in law has tried bringing fresh cranberry sauce for celebrations, but the teen boy will only eat the jellied kind. You know, the kind that looks like a log with lines from the can on it.
Thinking about his favorite Thanksgiving tradition also made me remember Friendsgiving at his pre-k many years ago. Families were asked to bring in their favorite holiday dish to share with other families for a community lunch. The teen boy picked his favorite, which I was both grateful for and a little bit embarrassed. A lot of families spent hours preparing and cooking their favorite dishes. All I had to do was stop by the grocery, pick up some cans, slice the juicy goodness and transfer to a plastic container.
Any guilt I felt washed away as I watched my little man go from table to table offering his favorite Thanksgiving food to each and every family member. If someone politely said no thanks, he would explain how tasty it was and they just had to taste a little bit. It was the highlight of the lunch. No one could say no to someone so enthusiastic and loyal to the jellied dish.
His love of canned fruit lives on, and most of the time when I buy the cans early in the week so we don’t risk not having any the official day most everyone else eats it, I usually have to make another trip to get more because they have vanished from the pantry.
Such a simple tradition, but one that is so important in our family. What are some of your holiday traditions? They do make the holidays memorable.