As Thanksgiving grows near, we asked some of our guest experts and staff members to tell us about their Thanksgiving traditions. From spending time with the family to eating tons of delicious food, here are some of the memories that have stuck with them over the years.
Mairlyn Smith: For the past twenty years, we drive up to my best friend’s cottage and have Thanksgiving in Muskoka. The leaves are usually spectacular that weekend and if the weather is good we even go for a boat ride.
Michale’s Thanksgiving menu was extensive. Tons of fabulous food that she and I would prepare. It started out small, usually around 12 people, but as word spread how wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at Michale’s was, the numbers started climbing. The year it hit 36 I nearly had a fit. The two of us started making the dinner around 9:00 am and we were both still in our PJs when the company started arriving around 4:00 pm.
Everyone had a fabulous time, everyone was so grateful and we were both bagged. That was when we decided that simple and smaller was better.
The menu got a huge axe, no more jellied salads, green salads, soup, biscuits, six side dishes, and four desserts…seriously…the menu had become insane.
Now we make Thanksgiving for family and a couple of friends and the number is usually between 12-18. We cook a large turkey, mashed potatoes, have a sweet potato side dish, peas, and carrots. Dessert is pumpkin pie and if anyone offers to bring anything we ask for dessert and wine.
Simple was the answer, and now we sit down to the table and we’re grateful too.
Gail Pelton, editor: Our family Thanksgiving is referred to affectionately as the ”Festival of Michael”. My brother Michael’s birthday is the second week of October, so we always had all the crazy Thanksgiving food that my mom could dream up, and my brother’s birthday cake. Over the years, the festival has morphed. My sister-in-law’s birthday is in October and her and my brother got married on Thanksgiving Sunday. I cook dinner now but it’s still all the same stuff my mom cooked. We look forward to it all year.
Dr. Joey Shulman: While as some may suspect, my Thanksgiving dinner is a delicious but quite a healthy one (check out my healthy harvest stuffing). But we do still indulge in our favourite pumpkin pie! Every year, we go to our nearby pumpkin patch and buy the most delicious baked pumpkin pie. You can tell by our faces in the picture to the right — we are pretty excited! But…you have to indulge once in a while, right?
Suzanne Ellis, managing editor, Cityline.ca: Thanksgiving at the Ellis residence can be summed up in two words: Double Dessert. I don’t know when this tradition started, exactly, but for some reason, years ago we decided that ONE pie or ONE cake wasn’t quite celebratory enough for our family gatherings. (I should mention that typically it’s only 6 of us – we’re not a big group!) So my mom, who’s an amazing baker, started doubling up. Typically, for Thanksgiving, this means two pies. Pumpkin and apple, or pumpkin and pecan (my dad’s favourite). And yes, most of us find room for both on our dessert plates.
Dr. Marjorie Dixon: We are definitely a family that prides itself on traditions and especially on those surrounding expressions of gratitude at Thanksgiving! Dinner is usually at my house with extended family and where a lovely, tasty turkey is key! We usually get a fresh, young turkey that I inject with melted butter (in a syringe — yup, I’m definitely a crazy doctor), I season it a day early, wrap it in bacon and stick it in the fridge covered in foil. The following morning I stuff it and bake it in a base of chicken consommé. It never disappoints! We also get all the trimmings (gravy, cranberry sauce, squash/sweet potato bake, scalloped potatoes, green beans and salad) — I’m salivating just thinking about it!
We also set up the table in our wedding china and fancy silverware as that was a tradition in my home growing up and we get the kids involved in that process. They also help with some sort of centrepiece/decoration for the table, usually with leaves and/or a small pumpkin. It’s quite the adventure!
We finally dress the whole gang up, head to church and must remember to bring non-perishable items for food bank donations that our church facilitates. We sing our usual Thanksgiving hymns and are mindful of how blessed we are to be able to celebrate the passing of another year with our family!
Patrick Reynolds, videographer: We host our family at Thanksgiving. It’s a rare time we all get together. A few traditions that have built up over the last few years for us are:
- The dining room set-up time is when the immediate family pitches in to host the 10 to 16 hungry, talkative, active people.
- Catch-up time for the adults on various subjects (ie. careers, healthy lifestyle attempts) and play time for the kids (with any luck the kids go and play outside!).
- The meal. Nothing completes the DelRey Thanksgiving meal like my sister-in-law’s famous three or four varieties of stuffings, veggies, and meat!
- For this videographer, getting everyone together and actually sitting down to the big meal is the best and most memorable part.
- Plenty of pictures are also a must. Not surprisingly I always have an eye on a lens, even on a holiday. But if I do say so myself I framed a good picture last year! (See below.)
Shai DeLuca-Tamasi: I find there’s no better way to give thanks than a day at the spa. Csaba and I wake up bright and early, throw some sweats on, and make our way over to the Four Seasons for a day of massages, reflexology and facials. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Mary Benadiba, producer: My story is about the passing of the Basting Baton if you will. My sister-in-law’s 90-year-old mother has taken much pride in preparing the turkey for many years and up until 10 years ago, we were okay with it. She was becoming forgetful, and the bird was coming out tasteless and undercooked. We could no longer risk it, so we started to make her drink the night before so she would sleep in. I would wake up early and make the stuffing and get the bird prepped and in the oven before she got up. She was fine with it and we’ve kept it up ever since. I now am looking at 30 more years of cooking the Thanksgiving turkey until some young and uppity member of the family takes the basting baton from me…the upside is I’ll get to drink the night before.
Ingrie Williams: Setting the dining table is one Thanksgiving tradition I always look forward to. I love the challenge of combining family treasures, like my grandmother’s dish set, with new objects and creating a gorgeous stage for a delicious feast.
Kate Moore, producer: Growing up in a large family, we always celebrated Thanksgiving together, and to this day, all seven of us kids try to make it home for the holiday.
In this Irish family there was much merry-making, cooking, visiting and family fun. There was also time to sit around the table and pray as a family. Afterwards, each of us spoke, no matter how young we were. We spoke about what we were thankful for, not for physical or monetary things, but for the blessings in our lives. We were encouraged to think of others. My mother put a jar in the middle of the table or off to the side on the counter at Thanksgiving, we dropped our pennies or nickels or whatever we had as children into that jar. Then in December we took the monies collected over the month and a half to one of the many organizations who supplied other families with a Christmas food hamper or gifts.
Carson Arthur: I grew up on an apple farm, so the traditional apple pie has always been a big part of my Thanksgiving celebrations. My mom’s apple pie is as traditional as it comes, but has won more awards than I can count. Whether served with a sharp cheddar cheese or a vanilla ice cream, Thanksgiving wouldn’t be the same without it.
(Mom won’t share her pastry recipe, but I was able to convince her to give up the good stuff!)
Carson’s mom’s apple pie filling recipe:
Ingredients:
- 7 Cortland or Northern Spy apples
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp white sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 3/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tbsp flour
- 4 tbsp heavy cream
- 2 tsp chilled butter, cubed
Method:
Thinly slice the apples and mix with the lemon juice. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, mix the white sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and flour.
Mix the spices with the apples and place in the bottom of your prepared pie shell.
Drizzle the cream over the apple mixture and add the butter.
Cover with the top pie shell and bake!
Alexandra Brouitt, unit assistant: Thanksgiving has never been a major holiday in my home. It always got lost somewhere in between the Jewish New Year and Halloween (my personal favourite) however we would still celebrate with food. So I don’t have any long-standing traditions other than the delicious foods shared together as a family. Turkey or roasted chicken, both with lots of gravy and even more mashed potatoes! Mmm…I’m hungry now! Is it Thanksgiving dinner yet?