Our Thanksgiving Tradition
I know the “Christmas Creep” has begun and I’ll admit, there’s a tree up in my basement and I may or may not have been listening to Christmas music for the past couple of weeks… 🙄 BUT let’s first give Thanksgiving the spotlight, shall we?!
Thanksgiving is truly one of my favorite holidays (next to Christmas, duh!) for many reasons. The biggest reason being, my parents started a tradition when I was young of inviting our neighbors over for some pre-dinner cheer. It wasn’t anything fancy–just a phone call to come over, watch some football, have some snacks and of course, a cocktail (or two). As a kid, the highlight of this event was playing with my friends (all of whom I am still in touch with today) and knowing I was going to get Bugles with onion dip…anyone else put them on your fingers and pretend they were claws?? 😂 Like I said, this wasn’t fancy. Everyone enjoyed themselves for a couple of hours then went off to their respective feasts. It was so simple, yet so much fun and it built some very fond memories for me.
Fast forward to today. We live in a great neighborhood where my boys enjoyed growing up with lots of friends. So, when they were young I decided to carry on the old Hattermann Thanksgiving day tradition I enjoyed as a kid. We have friends and family come by as well as neighbors so it’s a pretty full house for a couple of hours.
A charcuterie board is an easy option for a gathering
I’ve upped the game a little from Bugles and onion dip (but you bet that’s on the table every year!). My go-to dishes for this event are meatballs, charcuterie, artichoke dip, veggies and dip, and shrimp with cocktail sauce. But the star of the show is the bacon roll up. This is a recipe my sister-in-law gave to me (thanks Di! ) and it includes bacon, cheese, bread and mustard…I’m sure I had you at bacon and cheese! Each year I try and make a few extra, and each year they are gone (If you’d like a separate recipe post for some of these things, let me know! I do have a post on how to create a charcuterie board here.). As for cocktails, the signature drink of the day is a hearty bloody Mary along with wine and beer. It really isn’t a lot of work–I have it down to a science at this point. Maybe a day or two of prep beforehand. It’s the one day of the year I go “all out” and it’s so worth it.
With that, I must now get back to prepping and cleaning! I wish all of you a very happy, joyous Thanksgiving with way too much food, drink and laughter. Enjoy! 🍗💕
What are some of your Thanksgiving traditions? Let me know!
