Something Different

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and I think its because of all of the traditions that my family has. I have been looking forward to Thanksgiving for a little over a month and it is almost here! I thought I’d share a few of the traditions from the past and present at the Schmidt home.

• Thanksgiving is spent in MN
• Jenny and I go out on a date during the week
• Last year we started what I believe will be a new tradition and that is our family playing the game celebrity. Have you ever played?
• We use to exchange names for a white elephant gift exchange that was to be done at Christmas but now we just have a crazy exchange at Christmas and gifts get traded and stolen.
• Thanksgiving morning is all about the newspaper – The Star and Tribune sports section always has an article about the Turkey of the year which is an award given to a person usually associated with MN sports. Not an award you want to win.
• The cousins come over and they bring some of the funniest stories known to man kind.
• Detroit Lions (my dad is from Michigan) is a must.
• There is the annual TurkeyBowl Game. This was a football game between the cousins and it sort of went away about five years ago but I do believe the little ones are about to bring it back.
• Food – This is true for everyone – my favorite is my Dad’s honey ham.
• Back to the newspaper to look at all the ads in the paper.
• Planning – my mom is a religious black friday early morning shopper and since she married me – so is Jenny. They make their lists and scout out the order. This is what we do.
• More eating and games.

As I look over that list I notice that I say a lot but it doesn’t seem to capture one element that is a part of our family Thanksgiving’s and that is laughter. God has blessed our family with the ability to laugh and have a huge sense of humor. It isn’t planned but you can plan on it.