Growing up in the 1950's and 1960's, Thanksgiving day was not about sports, and most certainly, did not include television. The NFL did not exist at that time, and in the ‘50s, most people did not even own a television in America, and in the ‘60s, very few had color TV sets. Television, for the most part, existed in the family room, and was relegated, as a family, for viewing Ed Sullivan, Lawrence Welk, or the many variety shows that were aired during that period of time.
My family traditional Thanksgivings were huge a family get together. We always cooked two turkeys, and had to start cooking on Wednesday, through the night, and all the way up to Thanksgiving afternoon. We made our stuffing from scratch, as there were no boxed food stuffing at that time. In fact, we made all the food from scratch. Pie crusts were hand made, not store bought. Potatoes, both sweet and regular, were from real potatoes and yams or sweet potatoes. Although, if I am not mistaken, the pea’s were probably from cans (laughing).
I don’t recall when Thanksgiving became associated with football, but that seems to now be the way of life for Americans celebrating this holiday. It’s no big deal for me, because I like sports, and especially football.
After growing up with all the cooking and family fighting that always occurs at a Thanksgiving dinner, I enjoyed not participating in it for many, many years. I would always send my daughter off to her father for the holidays (including Christmas) and enjoyed the calm and quiet of being by myself. It was only after the second round of custody battles over my daughter (during which time issues like not celebrating Christmas or having a tree were brought up) that I actually kept my daughter and celebrated Christmas at my house (I believe it was in 1987 or 1988). Since I didn’t own diddley as far as ornaments or other stuff associated with Christmas, that year alone cost me over $1,000 just to buy lights, bulbs and ornaments for the tree, and other assorted Christmas paraphernalia. However, once I took the religious aspect out of the celebration, I found that I actually enjoyed the Christmas holidays (which generally start right after Turkey day). I got into the spirit of giving gifts to my friends and family, enjoyed decorating my house, and most importantly, playing CHRISTMAS SONGS!!!!!!
Anyway, time to watch some football (who the hell thought Titans vs. Lions was going to be a good game?), pull out the Christmas stuff and hang the Happy Holidays sign on my door!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!
2 comments:
My Thanksgivings were almost exactly the same, except being Italian, we had the extra courses. Homeade pasta, antipasta, escorole soup, and after the traditional dessert, fruit, mixed nuts, and roasted chestnuts. Dinner started at 12 and ended about 8. And the fights, oh boy, the fights! In fact, as a kid I thought the reason Christmas was so close to Thanksgiving was to give gifts to make up for what was said during Thanksgiving dinner and get forgiveness! LOL!
The association with football probably grew out of college & high school games. Thanksgiving morning was the season-ending "traditional rivalry" game for a lot of colleges & most high schools. My high school had been playing the same opponent on Thanksgiving for like sixty years. Winning that game could redeem a bad season. Now, many of the games are scheduled Thanksgiving Eve or the following Saturday. I remember the Detroit Lions playing every Thanksgiving, but NFL football wasn't the focus of the afternoon.
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