The Noble Pagan Forums - Thanksgiving & Food

I am busy with Thanksgiving looming around the corner. Do Pagans celebrate Thanksgiving? I'd love to hear about your traditions/practices. I celebrate the "idea" of the holiday, which is to give thanks for what I have and as an opportunity to get together with my loved ones.

I am hosting dinner this year and have found myself unusually excited about planning the menu. What are your favorite holiday meals? Since this particular holiday has been a challenge for us in the past (my middle son used to have a very limited diet), this is like our first year really celebrating with food.

So share your stories, recipes, ideas, and plans. If you don't celebrate Thanksgiving, join in with your favorites from this time of the year or winter.

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Truth is, we celebrate in a pretty traditional way. My boys are with me this year (I have to alternate holidays w/ the ex). We don't do turkey, however. My kids LOVE ham! So I always make this massive ham, mashed potatoes (have to be the real kind, with butter, heavy whipping cream and a tad of sour cream--the kids don't know about the sour cream part, so shhhhhhh). I guess as "unconventional" goes, they also love cesar salad, so I make a ton of it. They don't like stuffing, but I can eat my body weight of the stuff so I still make it (yeah, I know).

I try a bunch of different veggies, too. Last year I introduced asparagus w/ hollandais (sp?) and they really went for it. Usually I just make a bunch of variety veggies and let them dig in.

Dessert isn't really hard around here. Nobody ('cept me!) really likes pumpkin pie (and I'm convinced ANYTHING pumpkin is great!) so I usually make a ton of brownies, maybe a cake or batches of cookies and of course lots of ice cream.

Then the Thanksgiving Coma kicks in and everybody is asleep by 9PM.

Good luck with your meal--just keep in mind it's about friends and family getting together just enjoying being together. Don't stress out about making this and that and the other thing. Make it with love and everybody will have a wonderful time!

My best to you!

To be honest I've never really celebrated Thanksgiving in a pagany way. Mainly because it's a recent holiday (comparatively speaking). We typically kill a turkey, stuff it's ass with bread stuffs. Pig out on a myriad of food and junk alike. Give thanks that this year we actually have a roof and food on the table. Then take a 3 hour dump, then go to bed.

At least that's what it's been for the last five years or so ... this year we've got a turkey and food stuffs ... meh who knows.

My kids wanted to know why I was laughing so hard.

Food really is just for rent, isn't it.

Ayuh, perty much.

To me TG doesn't actually end at the end of the night ... it ends when the leftovers are gone.

By kill a turkey I'm talking spending $30-40 on a frozen bird.

"when the leftovers are gone..."

Sheesh, we usually eat some type of leftovers for a looooong while after TG. That's why we don't eat a lot throughout the year...everybody gets burned out on it.

ham flambe'
ham sammiches
ham pasta
ham
cold ham
warm ham
ham & eggs
ham
ham
ham
.
.
.
.
.
you get da picture.

Thanksgiving, for me, is pretty much everyday. At least, that is what I try to make it. I'm always spouting silly things like "Find the happiness in what you have instead of being angry about what you don't have," or "Take what you have and make yourself happy with it." I'm pretty sure my fiance gets frustrated when I say things like this to him, especially on days when I am having trouble finding my happiness (gettin better tho).

I don't tend to put a lot of pressure on myself about sticking to plans. People definitely get frustrated with my "Oh well, its not the end of the world, yet" attitude when I miss an appointment, burn dinner, or break something. So if I don't get around to making everything I want for Thanksgiving dinner, it won't be the cause of self-destruction.

I really like food, though. So planning the menu was tantalizing! I felt like I was being naughty. Tomorrow I'm going to feel oh so dirty as I shop for the food/ingredients.

(I tend to be long-winded)

Here's the Menu:
Chocolate Pecan Pie
Apple Raspberry Crisp
Pumpkin Praline Eggnog Pie
Praline Sweet Potatoes
Green Beans
Baby Red Mashed Taters
Deviled Eggs
Stuffing
Rolls
& Turkey!

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Sweety you are FAR from long winded. Have you seen some of the novellas I try to pass for as posts here?
LOL!

When my kids were itty bitties I used to make those Jenny-O turkey loaves ( was too po fo turkey and really....toddlers and infants aren't really gonna devour a bird and I'm not a gobble gobble fanatic).
As they got older that became our (sad) tradition.
I think....by the time I got married ( kids at age 4 and 6) we had REAL turkeys for gorgeyourselfstupid day.
Honestly.....I miss the Jenny-O loaf. Yeah it was ghetto. It was tradition though AND no effing leftovers!
Last year the dogs got TONS of left overs.

Lets see things on the usual list....
Turkey ( I miss you Jenny-O and so sorry to have forsaken thee!)
Green bean casserole ( cause it da bomb da way I make it yo)
Mashed Taters ( real stuff)
Stuffing
Olives
Yams or sweet potatoes
Fruit cocktail
Pumpkin and Apple Pie
Orange Julius ( I make it AWESOME)
Corn

Personally I'm not into Thanksgiving. I'm like the humbug of holidays. I feel that everyday should be a thanksgiving:
I am thankful to be alive ( most days)
I am thankful I have a loving family
I am thankful for my friends
I am thankful for my warm heated home
I am thankful for my abilities
I am thankful for the food we have ( even when it is dust bunny stew)
I am thankful for my blessings every day ( even pissy days)

So why do I have to go out and spend a buttload of cash to have a family day cooking up mass food that ends up being left overs....
( to quote Joe Camel...."If it was so good why is it left over?") .....that everyone will bitch about for days to come?

The concept of the Natives saving the Pilgrims back stabbing arses is great enough to set aside a day to celebrate surely...however I am not ( and never really have) understood the need to cook up large quantities of food to show how thankful I am.
Of course I don't have tons of family that gather together every year like a frickin Hallmark commercial, my kids are picky eaters, and I am not a huge food person. So maybe that is why I am so "yeah sure get a frickin turkey, gorge, sloth out, ask why and bitch about left overs later...sounds geeeerrate not".
Of course spending every other year with my husband overseas may have burned me out on family oriented holidays in general though .

Anyways I think this year we are travelling to Bellingham to have T Day with my in laws.
THAT should prove to be interesting.

Anyways I give kudos (and envy) to all you wonderful families who do have awesome traditional meals and Hallmark moment family reunions. I guess in the end that is what these type of holidays are meant for. Making a special day to reconnect and reunite with your roots ( kith and kin).
To you I bow down and tip my hat off to you.

<----My roomate keeps suggesting I NuWave my pets as a change in menu this year........

C/S/

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Well here we celebrate the same as anyone would. *laughs* Although we tend to celebrate in October though. Instead of in Nov. It just makes more sense that way. *laughs* Generally there is turkey, stuffing, and pie. Although i don't usually eat the turkey or the pie. LOL

I like stuffing

(nice siggy )