Thanksgiving day has finally arrived, and 2011 marks the 70th year for this national holiday.
Despite only being a national holiday since 1941, Thanksgiving traditions date back as far as the early-17th century. As they often do, things have changed as the years passed by. What has become the "traditional Thanksgiving" is actually quite different than some of the early feast, which was without any pumpkin pie or turkey.
Back then everyone celebrated Thanksgiving in the same place and the same manner. Now the day is celebrated in a wide variety of ways. Here's a look at how some local residents will be celebrating the holiday.
"For me, Thanksgiving is the holiday day where my whole family gets together," said Matt Perkins. "We all congregate together down in Little Rock at my wife's aunt and uncle's house. At Christmastime, everyone stays at their own homes, so it's a much smaller group of family that gets together for Christmas. This is the one time of year where we all get together and squeeze into the same house for a few days. I love getting to see people that sometimes I only get to see this one time of the year; visiting with them is very special to me. However, the Friday after is, in my opinion, the greatest day of the year. You sit around and watch football and eat leftover Thanksgiving food. There's just no worries. It's going to be especially great this year getting to see the Razorbacks play in such a big game for us."
"Thanksgiving, to me, is a time to be with family and to give thanks for all that we have and all that God has done for us," said Cora Sue Hardin. "It's just a very beautiful time. I really love it, and my favorite part is the fried turkey. My husband always fries our turkey and it is absolutely delicious."
"I really appreciate Thanksgiving for its historical value, but my feeling is that it is a time for me to stop and thank God for what he's done for me, what he's done for our nation," said Claire Morris. "My favorite part though, is spending time with family. Now I'm not much of a pumpkin pie fan, but I love sweet potato casserole."
"For our family it's very much the same thing year after year," noted Lori Hixson. "Even down to everything being done at my mom's. My sister makes the green beans, I make the salad. I make the mashed potatoes, Leslie makes the chocolate chip pie. We've turned this into an art, we've got it down. We also have to keep everyone out of the kitchen, it stresses people out (ha ha). It depends on who's in town, the door is always open to anybody, we have had as many as 40 or as few as 15. That's what our day is. Tradition. Because of being in retail, we spend 10 months getting ready for two months. It's crazy, but in a really good way. Once Friday hits, it's on."
"Thanksgiving, to me, is getting together with a lot of friends and family and giving thanks for all that the Lord has given us," said Ben Hubbard. "Oh, and green bean salad. I love green bean salad."
"My favorite thing about the holiday is always getting to watch the Cowboys, fried turkey and of course spending time with family," said Bill Huddleton. "I love being with my family; I'm a family guy. I have a lot of friends come in too. I have a friend spending the week with us because it's Thanksgiving and we're as close as any family. I also love getting to see the Lions play. A lot of people gripe about them playing on Thanksgiving, but I think it's fun to kind of root for them that one time during the year. Plus, this year we get to see the Hogs beat LSU."
"Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It's so much more relaxed than Christmas," noted Mary Gay Shipley. "The thought you put into getting the perfect gifts and receiving gifts properly can, at times, be a little stressful. That stress just isn't there for Thanksgiving. Every Thanksgiving is different for us, especially since my parents passed. This year we're going to go down to the senior center and help them with feeding the community and then later that evening I think we'll get together with a few other retailers to celebrate."
"To me Thanksgiving means family tradition and spending time with family," said Christie Patterson. "We think about all that we're thankful for and how fortunate we are to have a good job and a good church and the freedom to worship. And I love my mother's Italian cream cake. I look forward to it all year long. This year we are going to my parents' house after we help with the community Thanksgiving meal Thursday morning."
cpinkard@blythevillecourier.com