By Kayla Lutes, Features Editor
Thanksgiving break is a time for going home, enjoying family and recharging before finals week. Aside from gorging ourselves with turkey, Thanksgiving also means unique traditions for our families. Here are the traditions of the Collegian staff members. We hope you enjoy this glimpse into our families and possibly pick up a new tradition or recipe to try with yours. Happy Thanksgiving!
Kayla Lutes, Features Editor
Tradition: Making Meatballs
In my family, the night before Thanksgiving always includes smashing cornflakes with a rolling pin and sticking fingers in the mixture of raw meat, herbs and spices and cornflakes. It’s a family affair, stirring the mixture with our hands before we roll the meat into balls measured out with an ice-cream scoop. When I was little, this tradition was like a messier version of playdough. Now, the tradition is a way to help with meal preparations. The meat balls are a big hit with my extended family, but picky eater that I am, I’ve yet to try one.
Ingredients:
Meatballs:
- 2lbs ground round
- 1 cup crumbled cornflakes
- 1/3 cup dryed parsley flakes
- 2 eggs
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/3 cup of ketchup
- 2 table spoons minced onions
Sauce:
- 1 can cranberry sauce
- 1 bottle chili sauce
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Sauce: Melt cranberry sauce, chili sauce, brown sugar and lemon juice over stove top.
Meatballs: Mix ingredients and form into balls. Put balls in casserole pan, pour melted sauce over meatballs and bake at 350 for 45 minutes.
Olivia Vinson, Photo Editor
Every Thanksgiving, my mom breaks out her homemade Christmas tea for the first time, and my whole family practically hovers around the pot until it’s done. Along with the turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes, this tangy, spiced tea is the perfect compliment to your traditional Thanksgiving meal. From the Vinson family to yours, Happy Thanksgiving!
Tradition: Momma Vinson’s Christmas Tea
What you’ll need:
- 1 gallon of water
- 6 regular tea bags
- 3 teaspoons of whole cloves
- 3 sticks of cinnamon
- 2 quarts of cran-apple juice
- 6 ounces of frozen orange juice
- 1/2 cup of lemon juice
- 6 ounces of cherry jello
- 1 sliced orange
Directions:
First, bring the water to a boil in a large kettle, then turn off the heat. Add the tea bags and leave them in for 6 minutes, and then remove them. Next, add the spices and leave them in for 30 minutes. Once the 30 minutes are over, remove the spices with a strainer spoon. Add the cherry jello packets and the juices, then reheat and serve with orange slices on the top!
Kari Lutes, Features Editor
Tradition: Watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
Though a bit cliché, my family’s Thanksgiving tradition is watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade while we get ready to enjoy two Thanksgiving dinners in one day. Not so cliché, my uncle and younger sister started this thing when she was younger where they tell each other that the other one has “turkey feet,” so when the turkey float comes through the parade we all watch so that at dinner we can tell my uncle we saw him on T.V.
Robin Gericke, Managing Editor
Tradition: Ringing the Bell for Salvation Army
My family rings the bell for the Salvation Army the morning after Thanksgiving. It’s a cold time to stand outside, but we have a great time singing carols and collecting donations from the Black Friday shoppers. On one of the most consumerism-focused days of the year, volunteering affirms the gratitude we felt the day before and reminds us to not take blessings for granted.
Hannah Stafford, News Editor
Tradition: Eat, Eat More and Be Merry [Christmas]
I come from a family that lives by tradition, year-round but particularly during the holidays and Thanksgiving is our season kickoff. Thanksgiving Day is always reserved for dinner at my grandparents’ house and we road-trip there and back, listening to The Carpenter’s album, “A Christmas Portrait.” The Friday following Thanksgiving serves as our full launch into Christmas, beginning with the 1947 film Miracle on 34th Street (in black and white, of course). While Edmund Gwenn charms Macy’s Dpt. Store and the city of New York with his festive antics and fluffy white beard, we set up our tree and bake sugar cookies. Quality family time (and calorie-saturated food) is always at the center of our traditions which is probably why they’ve lasted so long.
Rachel Terry, Opinion Editor
Tradition: Thankful Chains
Every year my siblings and I each make a paper chain out of colored construction paper and glue sticks. We call them thankful chains because on each link of the chain we write one thing we are thankful for. We match the number of days until Christmas to the number of links so that we can count down to Christmas Day. It’s a good reminder every day of how many things we have to be thankful for.
Matthew Pertz, Opinion Editor
Tradition: The Greatest Pineapple Dish You’ve Ever Tasted
In recent years, my grandmother has perfected a nameless dish that consists of chunked pineapple, shredded cheddar cheeses and crumbled Ritz crackers baked layered on top of one another in the oven. This deliciousness has made an appearance at each of our past two Thanksgiving dinners thanks to my incessant begging. There’s no way my words could ever do justice to the splendorous creation of Louise Williams’ kitchen, so you’ll simply have to try it for yourself.
Hannah Schultz, Executive Editor
Tradition: Puppy Thanksgiving
My dogs — I’ve always had at least three my entire life — absolutely love Thanksgiving. We usually go out and buy them Thanksgiving-themed treats from the Barkery in Lexington because we feel bad that they don’t get to feast like we do. My mom will give them the leftover turkey after carving it, and all the dogs will position themselves right underneath my brother’s chair to beg for food during dinner because he is the weakest link. They get the same treatment for Christmas, and one year they got more presents than I did.
Elijah Lutz, Copy Editor
Tradition: The Tree
The entire Lutz family gets together for Thanksgiving. We all share the meal and the time with one another, and as soon as we clean the last plate, the entire family runs to gather the supplies for the Christmas tree. We all are together in the living room, putting on our favorite Christmas movie, drinking warm drinks, and occasionally eating some of the leftovers from the meal. We go until the late hours of the night, until the entire tree is up and decorated. I have fallen asleep before its finished many times, but it is a part of my Thanksgiving that I look forward to more than anything else.
Taryn Cipowski, Layout Design Editor
Tradition: Pie & Parade
My family always gets up early to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. My mom gets up even earlier than that to start making the feast. We all eat pumpkin pie for breakfast and lunch, and then the whole family shares dinner in the afternoon so we have enough time to digest before more pie for dessert.
Zack Peñalva, Sports Editor
Tradition: Christmas Tree Lighting
After the turkey is eaten and Thanksgiving is coming to a close, my family starts looking forward to Christmas. I live in Indianapolis so something my family does every year is making the trip downtown to see the lighting of the “tree” downtown. It’s actually a giant monument that gets lights strung from top to bottom, but it’s close enough. When the lights come on for the first time, it’s a nice way of seeing that Christmas is right around the corner.
Sarah Anthony, Web Editor
Tradition: Baking dessert with mom
Does falling asleep in front of a football game almost immediately after eating count as a tradition? Other than that, my mom and I like to bake a dessert together. My dad is the main cook in our house and basically prepares the entire Thanksgiving meal by himself (you go, dad). My mom and I aren’t spectacular cooks, but we at least like to help him out by baking a yummy dessert of some sort. We’re thinking either blueberry crumble or cinnamon roll apple pie this year.
Bria Isaacson, News Editor
Tradition: Competitive Games of Dummy Rummy
Every Thanksgiving or holiday that we visit my mom’s family in Iowa, we play Dummy Rummy. This all started several years ago when my grandma was alive. All of us kids were pretty young, and we always wanted to play games with her and with the adults. One night, my aunt Carmen decided to teach us all Dummy Rummy. In order to play, though, she made us each put two dollars into a pot. When she inevitably won the game that she picked, she took about sixteen dollars with her. Now, almost the whole family will play, and we always put a few dollars in. One year, my mom won enough money to pay for gas from Iowa to Kentucky (this was back when gas was three dollars a gallon, so she won quite a bit of money). Even though I’m really good at cards, I’ve only come out on top one year; my mom and my aunt are just too good. Maybe this year….
Prof. Bandy, Collegian Advisor
Prof. Bandy’s Thanksgiving tradition is a four day event. He begins on Thursday, when he sleeps until he smells coffee. He spends Friday staying away from all malls. On Saturday, he cuts down a Christmas tree, and then on Sunday, he lays around after church watching others decorate the tree.
