For us members of Generation X (the greatest generation) and those older than us, Thanksgiving is a whole different ballgame. When we were younger (i.e. young adults, teens, kids), Thanksgiving came with its very age-specific traditions that have, for me at least, gone by the wayside. But since I feel like reminiscing, all share what I remember as my Top 5 back-in-the-day Thanksgiving traditions.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
I’m “forreal, forreal” telling my age now, but back before the family (mom, dad, little sister and me) moved to Houston, we lived in New Orleans (by way of Ohio). And darn near every year we were there, my sister and I, along with our two cousins (shout out to Kim and Karen Caldwell), couldn’t wait for Thanksgiving evening, because right around 6 or 7 p.m., the classic movie “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” was coming on. I mean, like clockwork, we’d turn on the TV, and while our parents were in the other room getting loud, playing dominos, and drinking brown liquor (at least my dad and Uncle Mac were. I don’t ever remember seeing my mom or Aunt Nancy enjoying the Crown Royal), us kids were singing along with Dick Van Dyke and whoever else was in that movie. Today, I can’t even tell you what the movie was about beyond the fact that Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was a flying car. But it sure made for a nice little tradition for a brief season.
Watching and Playing Football
From late elementary to high school, it wasn’t Thanksgiving without watching AND playing football. Somebody come get me if y’all see me out there this year trying to corral a group of 50-something-year-old brothers to play some street football, light pole to light pole. Man, the more I think about it, I just might…
Sears Catalog Search
It wasn’t like me and my sister were about to get a bunch of presents for Christmas, but we knew that around Thanksgiving, that Sears and Roebuck catalog (look it up young’uns) would come out, and we’d go through the toy section circling everything we were about to NOT get that Christmas. But let me stop frontin’. Though we were light years away from being rich or even America’s definition of “middle class,” our parents hooked us up with way more gifts than we probably deserved.
Making the Rounds
As a junior and senior in high school, and probably all my college years except the first (I stayed in my dorm and didn’t go home, and had a broke freshman potluck Thanksgiving. What the hell was I thinking), me and the homies made it a point to hit up not only each others’ homes, but as many other friends as our stomachs would allow. Lord have mercy, if I ate as much food today as I did back then, I’d be 8,756 lbs. Because you best believe, at every stop, we ate an entire meal. But “forreal,” beyond the food, those were just good times with friends and their families, which were my extended family.
Young Adult Dating Scene
Man, some of my craziest dating stories always seemed to happen around Thanksgiving. And no, I’m not even going to go into detail on any of those adventures (haps and mishaps). But that just happened to be one of those things that became a Thanksgiving tradition. But as an older young adult (between 25-28), my Thanksgiving tradition became doing missionary work for my church from 8 a.m. – 2 p.m. So, I guess it all balanced out.
