Lat's Have Thanksgiving Dinner Together!

People talk about how every family in America follows the same food traditions on Thanksgiving, but that only goes so far. Sure, we have turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, and pie, but the recipes are varied, and serving anything other than what your family has enjoyed for years and years is like stepping on a land mine. I recall the massive shock when my grandmother began making dressing in serving size balls instead of pressing it into a pan. We all took that as a new family tradition for about 40 years until I just stopped doing it, because the only advantage was being able to throw a serving across the table, which isn't worth the extra trouble or oven room.   

Eventually, I found myself married into two other families that had different traditions, and almost everything had to be duplicated. My husband had to have Stovetop Stuffing, while my kids expected the traditional cornbread recipe. I roasted a turkey, while my late husband's mother brought chicken and dumplings. Once, I was compelled to make two different kinds of mashed potatoes, because my kids were temporarily vegan, although left to my own devices, I would not even make mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving.

Kim Holderness illustrates that concept more succinctly than I ever could in this Thanksgiving planning skit. The idea of giving up and just being a guest for someone else's feast is the easy way out, although her family will probably never let her live it down.