Thanksgiving is almost here, and with it, our traditions. One such tradition that absolutely MUST happen in my family on Thanksgiving is the eating of the pecan pie…
I freakin’ love pecan pie. It’s what we had at Thanksgiving when I was growing up… I mean, sometimes we’d also have a pumpkin pie up in the mix, but really nobody would touch it. My mom would always get pecan, and you would know if my dad had been tasked with buying the pie because he would inevitably mistakingly ONLY buy pumpkin and forget the pecan… But my mom always knew what was up.
It’s funny, though, because as much as I love pecan pie, it seems weird to have it any other time of year. The only time I actually consume copious amounts of it is on Thanksgiving, and I look forward to it every single year.
I also look forward to spending time with my family here in the Bay Area, and whenever possible, with my family in Hawaii. It’s always nice to have a block of time to reconnect with the people who mean a lot to us, and that we don’t get to see too often anymore as grownups, and to unwind over food and fun.
We also always watch some football, and ya know…while it’s not super high up on my list, I still look forward to sitting around and talking while a game plays in the background.
Oh! — I also look forward to having seconds, a.k.a. “round two of the Thanksgiving feast.”
Like, you know, everybody eats, then pauses to take a break (and maybe take a quick cat nap on the couch), and then a few hours later you come back for the second round.
I gotta admit…I do love going back for that second (and perhaps third!) plate on Thanksgiving.
How about you? What Thanksgiving traditions are you looking forward to this year?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Since we moved here, we’ve been spending Thanksgiving with my law school BFF and her husband in Kapolei since neither of us have extended family on the island. It’s a three-year tradition thus far! 😉 She cooks excellent food and then makes us play games where she is often the “sore winner.” ;-p
Wow look at that spread Karen! Are you hosting again this year? Being a vegetarian, or more specifically pescatarian, I usually try to shake up tradition and bring a main dish or at least a hearty side that I can eat too and get somewhat full off of. In the past I’ve brought different kinds of pasta salads or green salads to have something somewhat healthy. But yeah, desserts are definitely my fave part of the meal!
Spending time with family is the best part of Thanksgiving. But we eat early in the day and then carve down the remaining turkey, pile it high on a platter and then put out buns lettuce and mayo and then later on make sandwiches and play cards.
Same girl, same. Pecan pie is a star of our Thanksgiving table. I didn’t have it as much growing up but I adore it and it’s always been the husband’s favorite.
Sometimes I make it with a shot or two of bourbon. That’s really yum!
But like you, I usually only have it during the holidays. I’ll make one for Christmas also.
We usually celebrate with my family – my parents, my brother and his wife, and my grandparents (Grandpa is still around, my grandma passed a few years back) but we don’t have specific traditions other than my husband doing most of the cooking! Often we play board games or card games (euchre in particular) amd football in the background.
We’re going up north to my parents’ this year – my husband and my mom will cook but there will be a LOT of animals – my parents have two dogs and three cats and we’re bringing Hettie. Plus 6 people in a not big house!
Looking forward to spiral-sliced honey ham and pecan pie. Turkey dries out too fast. By the way, southerners (which includes Texas*, notwithstanding its insistence that it is western) eat pecan pie year-round. The pecan is the Texas state tree. Too bad that pecans are so expensive – they say that China now has a fondness for them, so it is competing for the US crop and driving up the price.
*Texas fought TWO wars for the preservation of slavery. That makes it southern, for sure.
Our favorite dessert for Thanksgiving is homemade apple crisp served with a small scoop of creamy vanilla ice cream. Warm and fragrant, the crisp is homey goodness and comfort in every delicious bite. My husband had never had a piece of pie until he came to this country and he has never acquired a taste for it. My sons and their special ladies don’t care for it, either. So, no pie for us. I haven’t had a really good pie since my grandmother passed away many years ago. Her crusts were always flaky and tender. Her fillings were always generous and flavorful because she only used ripe in-season fruit. My favorite was her boysenberry pie. During berry season, she’d send me out to the garden with my great-granny to pick the berries. Such sweet memories.
I should probably say thank you for sending me on a pleasant little trip down memory lane.
Since the boys were born, we’ve always hosted holiday meals. It’s mainly only my parents and us but, of all the holiday meals, Thanksgiving is my favorite. Turkey with a quarter pound of sage butter under the skin and homemade everything: mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, some rotating vegetable sides and two types of pie. The hits in our house are a pumpkin cheesecake and Bavarian apple torte. I can’t do the pecan pie – my teeth hurt just thinking about all that sweetness. HAHA! We eat in the early afternoon and then play board games, have a few glasses of wine and watch some TV. And clean up (my least favorite part, of course). This year we’ll drive a few hours on Friday to visit my father-in-law, bring him some goodies and visit for the day.