Every holiday has its traditions. As I write this,Thanksgiving is next week, the first of the big holidays that define the “holiday season” of late fall and early winter. Of course, for me Halloween is really the first but not everyone is as much into the magical, spooky delights of Halloween as I am.
Thanksgiving though is the big harvest festival and centers around food and family. Specific food is tied to this holiday, more than most I think. You know the menu: turkey, stuffing, gravy, potatoes (white or sweet), corn, cranberry sauce, bread of some kind and pumpkin and/or apple pie. Who hasn’t eaten most, if not all, of these on Thanksgiving? Food isn’t all there is to it, of course, there are other ways to celebrate Thanksgiving .
A Thanksgiving Harvest Moon
Thanksgiving memories
I think all holidays you grow up with have special memories associated with them. I know my mother made a traditional Thanksgiving dinner with much the same menu as I listed above. For me, however, Thanksgiving traditions started much earlier. One of the first things I did was turn on the TV and watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. I loved all of those big balloons and the marching bands from all over the country. Of course the best part was saved for last. That was when Santa Claus appeared atop a big sleigh waving to all as he went by. My mother told me this was the real Santa Claus, unlike the one you saw in the Jordan Marsh department store in Boston. Also, when he appeared at the parade’s end it marked the beginning of the Christmas season. Now the Christmas season begins right after Halloween!
Anyway, after dinner we headed over to my grandmother’s house for a family get-together. My uncles, aunts and cousins would all come to the party and there would be plenty of food for those who didn’t get enough at home. The adults would catch up on what had happened since last they met. Sometimes there was singing and piano playing (my father especially liked providing the latter). Since the next family reunion would be Christmas night, all of the aunts would draw names and buy a small Christmas gift for those particular children. They are all nice memories to think about the next time Thanksgiving rolls around.
Thanksgiving stories
Family themed holidays like Thanksgiving can provide inspiration for writing both novels and nonfiction. I mean you could put together a great cookbook with just holiday recipes. I’m sure multiple cookbook authors already have! Nevertheless holidays are a great setting for almost any type of story. Family dramas, heartwarming tales of love and reunion, someone stabbed with the turkey carving knife. You could include all of the above although probably not at the same time.
A writer often draws on personal experiences to create a story. Take the family reunion at my grandmother’s house every year on Thanksgiving and Christmas. It would be a perfect setting for long simmering sibling rivalries to suddenly come to the forefront producing tension, anger and maybe violence. Other family members would then try to step in to calm the situation. This could result in either the resolution of old emotional wounds or a murder. Which one would depend on the type of story you want to write of course. I have yet to include a holiday as a central feature of a story but writing this has given me some ideas. Maybe next time. Meanwhile, Happy Thanksgiving!