McCarty Family Thanksgiving Traditions

I've had fun thinking of recipes to post all week and link up with this new blog friend I've found. Today, her challenge is to tell about our Thanksgiving memories/traditions. I absolutely LOVE our Thaksgiving traditions. For one thing, it seems to always get us in the mood for Christmas!

Because we moved to Texas from Illinois in 1978 (a long time ago), we had to create our own family traditions. I think there were a few times that we made the drive to Illinois at Christmas AND at Thanksgiving, but it was too much on Mom & Dad. So they had to make the decision to stay in Texarkana for Thanksgiving, so we could be with all of our relatives in Illinois for Christmas.

We always have a great traditional meal that Mom mostly cooks...she's an excellent cook! Now that we're grown, my sister, brother, and I try to help out some but it still ends up that Mom cooks most of the great food. We usually invite some friends or relatives to join us for a wonderful meal.

Two of my favorite traditions come in the afternoon (usually after a little nap because we're all so full). We always get all of the ads from the newspaper and start plotting our Friday morning shopping excursion! We go through every ad and find which ones have the best early bird specials and make our plans. That "day after Thanksgiving" shopping frenzy is the BEST!

After we rest up and make our shopping plans, we always go to a movie matinee. We try to go to a Christmas movie to get us in the spirit but some years those types are lacking. This tradition started about 30 years ago when we were stuck in Texarkana alone and had only lived here a short while. I think we were all pretty sad about not being with the entire family in Illinois, so we went to see Sally Field's movie, Places in the Heart. It's funny how you remember things like that, but we had the best time going to the movies. Our family did not go to the movies very often, so this was a big treat! And so our tradition was born.

Now that we've all grown up and are married and have kids, it's a pretty big endeavor...sometime up to 14 of us go to the movies together! And even though we are stuffed from our Thanksgiving feast, we still have to get the movie popcorn! It's a must!

I'm getting so excited about Thanksgiving now...it's just a little over a week away. We've already started talking about what movie to watch this year. It has to be one that is good for all ages...from 3 to 64! :) Any suggestions?

I'd love to hear some of your Thanksgiving traditions too! Who knows...we may need to add them to our family traditions. :)