Does your family have holiday transitions that they follow?  Do you know how these traditions got started and do you know why they are continued?  My family has many traditions that take place around Thanksgiving and many of them revolve around food.  

Thanksgiving is the only holiday that my immediate family hosts.  My aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents all travel north from Indiana to stay for the long holiday weekend.  The holiday starts with my mom, frantically cleaning the house and making beds for everyone in every room. We are a little like the Griswolds from the movie Christmas Vacation, we all have to bunk up together. This year I had to share a room with both my sister and cousin Lorin.  

The guests slowly trickle in on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.  This year my aunt’s family arrived around 12:00 followed by my uncle’s family at 6:00.  Once everyone arrives, we walk from our house to the House of Emperor for a delicious Chinese dinner.  How did this get started and why do we do it every year? I am really not sure but everyone loves it and we continue to do it year after year. We order way too much food and share our fortunes with one another. After dinner, we all walk home and typically play some games including ping pong, telestrations, catch phrase, and/or dominoes until late at night. 

The Thursday morning of Thanksgiving, my mom makes all of us get up early to run the turkey trot.  When I was younger, I hated this tradition.  I wanted to stay in my warm bed and sleep in for as long as I could.  As I have gotten older, I have come to enjoy the morning run since it is fun to see many friends and neighbors there as well. I hate to admit it but I like getting the day started with some exercise because I know that it is going downhill from there. Some family members run, and some family members walk but we all meet up after the race to take a picture proving we all survived my mom’s torture.  

After we get home, we head to the field by my house.  My neighbor organizes a flag football game and anyone who wants to join in can.  We have had grandparents join in, adults, big kids, little kids, and my dogs at times have even been there to run the field.  My neighbor ropes off the field and even sets up cones to designate the end zones.  Sometimes we play the game following the rules or sometimes people like my uncle just pick up my cousins to get them out of the way so he can run for a touchdown. One year my aunt and uncle wrestled for the ball and my aunt ended up breaking my uncle’s thumb.  Every single one of my family members is competitive and the neighbors seem to get a kick out of the craziness. We compete for bragging rights and believe me there is a lot of teasing that goes along with this game. We were especially lucky this year seeing that the weather was gorgeous and we could stay out and play longer than normal. After the football game, we come home to battle who gets to shower first. We also all look forward to eating my mom’s famous egg and sausage casserole. This is a must even for the younger cousins, they say it is their favorite food of the weekend.  

Other friends and family start coming over around 2:00 for Thanksgiving dinner.  The house is usually full and very loud with everyone laughing and talking as my parents continue to prepare the food for the main dinner of the long weekend. Finally, it is time to eat and everyone finds their places at the table.  Food is passed, drinks are poured and everyone is full by the end. The festivities continue on to the evening when usually a ping pong tournament takes place. This year our friend who is a seventh grader beat my uncle in the championship and took home $20.00! 

Our house is a disaster but I would not trade these traditions for the world.  It may be chaotic but I have grown to love it!