Turkey Day traditions are many and varied

Most of us have traditions we follow to the letter when it comes to Thanksgiving dinner.

The kids want cranberry sauce that jiggles and comes from a can. Dad wants mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes, and don’t even think about swapping either out for mashed cauliflower. And then there’s the stuffing. Or is it filling?

But with the holidays come other traditions as well.

When I was a kid, I always watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on television, and waited excitedly for the end to see Santa. In keeping with that theme, after dinner always included my favorite Christmas movie, the original black-and-white version of “Miracle on 34th Street.”

We know many of you have similar traditions, so we asked readers via social media to share some of the things they do that make Turkey Day a day to remember.

Linda Slovik Dudeck, McAdoo: “We name our turkey every year. This year his name is Trevor! LOL the kids enjoy it!”

Kellie Amber, Lehighton: “I bake and sell my pumpkin rolls and donate the profits to help animal shelters/rescues.”

Amanda Winter: “I’m staying in (the day after Thanksgiving). Pajamas, hot chocolate, Christmas movies and leftovers are our family tradition.”

Steve Hill: “A fight, happens every year. We are all disappointed if it doesn’t happen.”

Kerry Ann, Lehighton: “We always do a second Thanksgiving on Friday with my brother and sister who live out of state. They have the holiday in their own homes then travel up here on Friday. We have a great night together then Saturday, we go to a local tree farm and they get their trees and head home. It has become a tradition and we all look forward to the time together.”

Lacey Tyre Timony, Tamaqua: “Run a Turkey Trot race.”

Amber McKenney, St. Louis, Missouri: “When I lived in Southern California, the church I belonged to shared its sanctuary with a synagogue for a while. Every Thanksgiving we had a joint breakfast (including bagels and lox), gave thanks, sang “Hava Nagila” and “If God can love Turkeys.” Participants had to pay an entry fee of two cans of food that went to the local food pantry. I always loved that tradition.”

Anne Sherwood, Maryville, Tennessee: “My parents have always been very welcoming of people who had no one to spend Thanksgiving with. When I was in college, it was my college friends that lived too far to go home for the holiday. In more recent years, it’s been recently divorced or widowed people that had no one to spend the day with. I love that about my parents — there’s ALWAYS room for more at their table.”

Bob Eckroth, Lehigh: “Gym.”

Colleen Reilly Bauer, Trevose: “My youngest daughter has judged our dessert contest since she was 4 years old and is now 14. The comparison is real and gets VERY competitive and has grown as siblings have married and spouses have got in on the action!”

Eric Reif, Palmerton: “Eat.”

Jason Pfleiderer: “Work”

Deirdre Popp, Manlius, New York: “We try to find humor in things. My mother-in-law burned her hand one year trying to grab something without a pot holder, so we keep handing pot holders to her at random times during the day. We also watch the “Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” show and a “West Wing” Thanksgiving episode.

Sara A. Skokan, San Francisco: “A local radio station used to play ‘Alice’s Restaurant’ twice on Thanksgiving. We would turn on the radio at noon and listen while we got ready to go to a grandparent’s house. So now when I hear it, I’m instantly back there, 9 years old, in the bathroom with my mom, it’s on the scratchy little radio she kept in there, and it’s one of the three days a year I would see her actually put on makeup.”

Ana Isabel, Tallahassee, Florida: “While I was a teacher at a high school, every Thanksgiving Wednesday, I would gather with my family and my students at my church where Meals on Wheels gathered to cook hot meals and distribute boxes of nonperishables for each family on our list. We would work to sort the nonperishable food donations made by the community and create family boxes. Last year, we assembled 225 boxes laden with food for less fortunate families. I have done this for the past seven years. We will do this again this year and some of my past students will be joining my family, just like old times.

“On a more personal family level, we get up really early, turn on the Macy’s Parade and cook up a storm. Sometimes, we just have to stop and watch, but I did this with my parents and now with my kids. That parade and Thanksgiving are intertwined in my memories. Also, because my parents and I moved to the mainland with very little family close by (10 hours away), we always had friends over. I continued the tradition in my own home, with another family from Puerto Rico and a family from Singapore. We had our kids more or less at the same time and about 18 years ago, we began celebrating together. For the past four years or so, we have not been able to do it, but I’m ecstatic to say that we are going to reunite again this Thanksgiving at my house. I hope this is a tradition we can keep up for a few more years. Between the three couples, we have eight kids. In addition, my nieces who are studying at the local university will be joining us for Thanksgiving as well. All in all, this is a blessed day for us.”