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Plymouth Thanksgiving Parade

Okay, I’m from Plymouth, Mass., born and raised on the Rock.  Plymouth Rock that is, so Thanksgiving has a little bit of a different meaning to us Plimotheans.

After all, we celebrate Thanksgiving with people from all over the world.  Everyone wants to visit the site of the first Thanksgiving.  In addition to the Rock, we have the Mayflower, Plymouth Plantation, and the town has a huge parade, with small reenactments featuring Pilgrims, Indians, and everyone in between.

Plymouth Thanksgiving Parade

The town has so many great attractions and events, things I never attended while I was growing up there.  When you grow up in an historic town, you tend to take everything for granted.  For example, some people that have lived in New York City all their life have never seen the Empire State Building.

I never paid much attention to what was going on, but now I tell everyone I meet what a GREAT place it is to visit, especially if they have young children.  A visit to Plymouth at Thanksgiving would be a great thing to put on your Daisy List.

My family home is about a 15 to 20 minute walk from the waterfront, so we never had to drive to the parade.  As a matter of fact, many people park in my mother’s driveway and then walk to the waterfront for the parade.  All year round the waterfront area is beautiful, but for Thanksgiving it’s really exciting.

My mother still lives in the same house, and every year we go through the same crazy Holiday spin cycle.  All those things that lets us know it’s that time of the year.  The weather, the time change, the crowds, the food, the egg nog, the stocked store shelves, the mail flyers, the trees, the lights, The Salvation Army Santa Clauses, sometimes the snow, oh, and let’s not forget the music.

I always try to hypnotize myself into believing that I’m going to go slow, take it easy and not get caught up in the hype.  Then I start my trip on Route 95 again heading to Mass for Thanksgiving with all my Christmas music blasting and it’s like a signal for the chaos to begin.  It takes me a couple of weeks to get things going.  I do all the cleaning, the shopping , the cooking, the decorating, all around general running around, you name it, whatever it takes to make the holiday as cheerful as possible.

I try to manage to get all of the Xmas decorations up early at my Mother’s, basically because there is so much to do.  The lights alone would fill Santa’s sleigh.  It’s a big house, and it’s become sort of a tradition in town.  My mother LOVES Christmas and all the decorations.  She repeatedly tells me stories about how much her mother LOVED Christmas and that’s how it got passed on to her.

And now I LOVE Christmas with all the trimmings, cooking, family and all that Hallmark stuff that goes with it.  Sometimes I actually want to believe in Santa Claus.

The older I get the more I have to get creative over the years and par things down.  One year we had over 30 wreaths and 5 trees, a little over kill, but I was younger and full of energy.  I have now discovered that less can absolutely mean more.

I try to incorporate traditions with my family, but the only tradition they like to follow is to “show up for the turkey”!  I always try to pick out a new theme, different colors, motif etc.  I LOVE a beautiful table.  My mother has all the settings in every color, the place mats, the chargers, the napkins, and tablecloths, all the things to make centerpieces and all the plates, and silver you name it, I have so many options.  I love to get creative and mix antique and contemporary for a different look.  I try to make every year different.

The biggest lesson I’ve learned however, is to do EVERYTHING early.  I plan my theme and menu early, shop early and get everything as early as I can.  It takes me a good week with the help of a handy man to get all the decorations up before Thanksgiving.

My mother has this habit of inviting anyone and everyone to dinner that she happens to be talking to about the holiday.  Long lost relatives or friends, the clerk at the supermarket, the couple down the street, people she may work with.  You name it, it’s always a full house and you never know who will be there.  It makes it fun and interesting.  I just always beg her to let me know “how many”.  I always set at least 2 tables, sometimes 3, but we’re always prepared with plenty of food.

Then others drop in for dessert or drinks, always a full house.  I LOVE it!

This year I plan to have everyone write something on a small slip of paper of at least one thing they’re GRATEFUL for and read them all before we sit down for dinner.  The little ones say the cutest things.  My gang gets so mad, they just want to sit down and chow, but they go along with it, depending on how many people are there.

Plymouth Thanksgiving Parade

So I hope you all have a Magical Holiday and make sure to start some traditions.

“The secret about Thankfulness and Gratefulness,

the more you express it, the more you get!”

HAPPY THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY!