Thanksgiving traditions

{ Our wee apartment decked for the holidays last year | November 2011 }

Last year we were local for the entire holiday season (which doesn't happen often for us), so we decided to go all out with every single tradition we hold sacred. First up? Procuring a tree, since I grew up decorating our tree with the Macy's Day Thanksgiving Parade on in the den and Thanksgiving dinner preparations going on in the kitchen. Last year was my first time ever having a Christmas tree in my own apartment. And, like all good New Yorkers, we found a deal at a Lowe's in Brooklyn and trekked across the river to procure our little (well, actually not so little as he was 6-feet tall) guy.

Of course we didn't take into account the rain or distance between said Lowe's and the nearest subway stop, but I saw it as an adventure! R didn't see it as such (at least not at first), since he was the one hefting our balsam fir along, while I was responsible for carting home our 20-ft. garland on my shoulders. But let me tell you, people are exceedingly kind and gracious when they see you propping up a Christmas Tree in a subway car.


By Wednesday night we had the tree up (albeit precariously, since our newly-purchased stand broke and we had to improvise with our biggest kitchen pot instead), our Swedish star in the window, red table runners out and a box of handmade ornaments from Virginia (plus a few NYC store-bought ones to round out the collection) waiting on the table for us to use the next day. Then we began cooking. And cooked and cooked and cooked until I collapsed in exhaustion on the couch at 11PM and posted this to Facebook:

"I am p.o.o.p.e.d. I have no idea how my parents did this for all those years (while having a more demanding job and a much bigger house than me). But, R and I managed to get the apartment decorated and 95% of Thanksgiving dinner prepped and ready to go today. Thank goodness the only thing left to do tomorrow is a pop a few things in the oven, decorate the tree (which has to be done while watching the parade, of course), and perhaps pour ourselves a glass of wine."

Thanksgiving day was lovely, with guests arriving in the afternoon, the decorating of the tree, a lovely spread (without turkey, since we aren't fans, but I held firm to the need for the entreè to at least be a fowl of some sort, so had two tasty heritage chickens instead).

{ Our Thanksgiving feast last year | 2011}

We're having a non-traditional Thanksgiving at home this year—which makes me all the more thankful for last year's festivities. Even more so because we won't have a tree this year, either (the only white thing about our Christmas will be the sand). So from my non-turkied, non-squashy table to your hopefully-bedecked one, Happy Thanksgiving!