Non-Traditional Thanksgiving?

Joel and I had talked about inviting friends over for Thanksgiving this year. However, it looks like most folks are heading out of town. No biggie. It's Quin's first Thanksgiving so I thought I would go ahead and cook our normal favorites - turkey breast, stuffing, sauteed brussels sprouts, mashed potatoes, cranberry salad and pumpkin pie. The other day on the way to work, though, Joel mentioned doing something more non-traditional. We could have Chinese takeout or pizza. I'm not sure how I feel about this.

I love Thanksgiving foods. In fact, one of my favorite memories is of Thanksgiving when I was in high school - maybe my sophomore year? Anyway, we had our normal Thanksgiving, but my sister had a post Thanksgiving basketball tournament. I had basketball in Cedar Rapids so I didn't travel with the family to Libby's tournament. I have great memories of staying up late, watching TV and eating Thanksgiving leftovers - mashed potatoes topped with stuffing, then turkey, then cranberry salad (there were never any brussels sprouts left). It was this wonderful moment of being in charge of myself, while still being comforted by the flavors of our family.

These feelings are the ones I want Quin to have. I want him to look forward to the foods our family eats each holiday - corned beef hash and eggs on Christmas morning, cranberry salad for Thanksgiving, lamb at Easter, cherry angel food cake for my birthday. I know that he won't remember this particular holiday because he's too young, but I don't really want to get in the habit of deviating from our traditions. Or maybe the real issue here is that I want to eat our traditional foods because I want to feel the comfort associated with these foods and I'm using Quin as my excuse for not wanting to do something more non-traditional.

I only have a few more days to decide what we're going to do. Thankfully it is just the three of us so it won't be particularly difficult to get the necessary Thanksgiving supplies if we ultimately choose to go the more traditional route. I'll let you know next week what we decide.