This Nostalgic Life #26
More Thanksgiving Nostalgia
Welcome to the 26th issue of This Nostalgic Life. We’re closing in on the end of the year, but before we get there, we’ve got a couple of more holidays to address. The first of which is Thanksgiving, so in this issue, we’re featuring more Thanksgiving nostalgia to help get you in the spirit of the holiday.
My Not-So-Traditional Thanksgivings
by Mick Lee
The photo you see on the cover of this issue is the classic Norman Rockwell painting known as “Freedom From Want”. He created this masterpiece in November of 1942, and it graced the cover of the Saturday Evening Post in 1943. It depicts what has come to be known as a traditional family holiday meal, and is the image many people think of when they think about Thanksgiving dinner.
It’s an image I always wanted to come true when I was a kid. I wanted my Thanksgiving to be in a house full of family, with a large table adorned with a big, beautiful bird, and all the fixin’s around it. The kind of Thanksgiving day where you get up and smell all of the wonderful aromas that are created when preparing a large holiday meal. The kind where my mom and my aunts would be in the kitchen laughing and talking while making each dish perfect, and my dad and uncles would be lounging lazily in the living room, while my cousins and I would be outside playing football until it was time to eat.
But in reality, the Thanksgivings of my youth were nothing like this. The classic depictions I saw in images like Freedom From Want, or on Thanksgiving episodes of television shows were a far cry from what I experienced. While it’s hard to achieve that level of Americana, I struggled to even reach what most people growing up in the ‘80s and ‘90s knew as a traditional Thanksgiving.
The modern traditional Thanksgiving included watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, stuffing yourself with turkey, casseroles, and pies before drifting off to sleep on the couch watching the Lions or Cowboys play the traditional Thanksgiving Day football game. But in my world, that wasn’t a reality either.
I had two main things going against me when it came to being able to have what I considered a traditional Thanksgiving. For starters, neither my dad nor my brother likes turkey. It sounds un-American, but I can assure you, it’s true. The second thing going against me is neither of them has ever really been football fans either. So two of the top-tier items associated with Thanksgiving were not held in high regard in our house.
These two unfortunate facts combined meant that the traditions of Thanksgiving weren’t sacred in my house. Sure, we all liked to eat, and Mom and I would watch the parade…or at least have it on whether we actually paid attention to it or not. But my family’s Thanksgiving really consisted of going out to eat at Cracker Barrel on Thanksgiving day…at a time of day when most were settling in on their couches for an afternoon of football. It was always depressing to me.
This is what Thanksgiving was like for the first 14 years of my life. But in 1992, I decided I was going to put my foot down when it came to going out to eat on Thanksgiving. That year I proclaimed that I was going to stay home and watch football. I’d cook a frozen pizza and just sit on the couch all afternoon. My dad was fine with that actually and didn’t protest. It was the first step in forging a new tradition.
The next year in 1993, Mom decided she was going to cook a turkey breast since she and I were both fans of turkey. She said I could eat it while watching football, and she would have some that evening after the Cracker Barrel meal faded away. Then in 1994, she decided to make dressing and potato salad to go along with the turkey breast.
And this is how it went for the rest of my time living at home. I would get up on Thanksgiving day at a lazy time, and enjoy turkey, dressing, and potato salad on the couch watching football in the afternoon while the rest of the family went out to eat.
After a few more years passed by I got married and moved out. We were married in September, and one of the first things I addressed with my new bride was that I wanted to have a large Thanksgiving meal that year. I explained to her what I just related to all of you about the Thanksgivings of my past. Her family had more of a traditional Thanksgiving experience every year, so she was fine with the idea.
That year we cooked a whole turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, macaroni and cheese, sweet potatoes, broccoli casserole, green beans, corn, and pumpkin pie. We invited her mother for dinner, as well as my parents. I didn’t expect my folks to break their tradition of going to Cracker Barrel to come to our house since my old man doesn’t like turkey. But to my surprise, they came. And we all had a great time. We ate dinner, and then I retired to the living room to watch the Cowboys game. And in another surprise, my dad joined me. My dreams were starting to come full circle.
In the years that followed, my wife and I continued to cook a big feast and invite various people. Her mother always came, and my parents came more years than not. Every now and then, they decided to go to Cracker Barrel like usual. But they did make a point to stop and have a slice of pumpkin pie for dessert with us.
And that’s how Thanksgiving has continued to be observed every year since at my house. We still cook a huge meal and invite people over. My kids have grown up knowing this tradition, and while part of me hopes they continue it with families of their own in the future, I’m fine with them forging their own traditions that align with their vision of what Thanksgiving is.
Maybe one day my tradition will end and I’ll resign myself to being a guest at one of their dinners with they have families. If that be the case, I’m fine with it. I’ve had a great run so far as host of Thanksgiving. And to think, I willed my perception of Thanksgiving into reality through the years. I hope they do the same one day. Or maybe they’ll just continue to come home for Thanksgiving every year, and I’m fine with that too. A big meal followed by an afternoon on the couch watching football with kids and grandkids is what I consider “Freedom From Want”. Maybe someone will paint that scene one day.
In 1984: We've got three songs debuting on the chart this week. First, "All I Need" by Jack Wagner. Wagner was making a name for himself on the soap opera General Hospital playing the character Frisco Jones when he recorded his album by the same name. It was received little fanfare or attention until he performed said song on an episode of General Hospital. Radio stations were suddenly inundated with requests and the song took off. It'll eventually reach #2 in January. The power of the 1980's soap opera crowd on display.
The same week "Lucky Star" from Madonna drops off the chart, the first song from her new (yet unreleased) album appears on the chart. "Like A Virgin" is set to propel Madonna into eventual mega-stardom. Fun fact: "Like A Virgin" was written by two men, Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg. Both have stated that they met Madonna years after and she had no idea who either of them were. It'll hit #1 in January.
Finally, arguably one of the most misunderstood songs of the decade debuts as well. "Born In The USA" from Bruce Springsteen, a song about a the hardships faced by Vietnam veterans unopn their return home, is often mistaken for a uber-patriotic anthem and has been misused by many a political candidate over the years. It's the third single from the mega-album by the same name and will eventually reach the Top Ten in January.
In 1990: "Groove Is In The Heart" from Deee-Lite is topping out at #4 for a couple of weeks. One of my absolute guilty pleasures from the late 80's, I remember it being played at many a dorm dance and frat party when I was on college at the time.
Another song that's topping out this week is "Something To Believe In" from Poison. It'll spend a couple of at #6. Several months before, I saw them play this song at an outdoor venue in the pouring rain. With the lights and the rain the crowd singing along, it was surprisingly magical.
Playlist: This Week In 1984
Playlist: This Week In 1990
In every edition of This Nostalgic Life, we like to share a curated list of nostalgia-themed articles, stories, and posts that we’ve come across recently. It gives you a chance to discover great content and remember things from your past that you may have forgotten. With that in mind, here are some things we wanted to share with you this week. (All links will open in a new tab.)
Why We Celebrate Thanksgiving on the Fourth Thursday in November (Curious Junk)
Tales From the Butterball Hotline (Mental Floss)
The Early Days of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (The Retro Network)
8 Forgotten Animated Thanksgiving Specials of the ‘80s (MeTV)
NFL’s Top Ten Thanksgiving Moments (YouTube)
Five Things I Miss About Thanksgiving in the ‘90s (Yester Year Retro)
A Brief History of Black Friday (Curious Junk)
That’s all for this issue of This Nostalgic Life. If you enjoy what we do here, consider sharing this post with your friends on social media. And if something we touched on in this issue resonates with you, please leave a comment. We’d love to hear what you have to say. Thanks for reading, and we hope you have a very safe and happy Thanksgiving.
