Still Celebrating Harvest Time: Thanksgiving Weekend 2022 - Rooted in Tradition

One of my dipped candles
lighting our meal.

"...our entire economic system:  buy things.  Everybody buy.  It doesn’t matter what you buy.  Just buy.  It doesn’t matter if you don’t have money.  Just buy.  Our entire civilization now rests on the assumption that,  no matter what else happens,  we will all continue to buy lots and lots of things.  Buy,  buy,  buy,  buy,  buy.  And then buy a little more.  Don’t create,  or produce,  or discover — just buy.  Never save,  never invest,  never cut back — just buy.  Buy what you don’t need with money you don’t have.  Buy when you’re happy.  Buy when you’re sad.  Buy when you’re hungry.  Buy when you want to lose weight.  Buy an iPhone.  Six months have passed,  here,  buy another iPhone.  Go online and buy things.  Go to the mall and buy things.  On your way,  stop and buy some more things.  Buy things for every occasion.  Buy things to celebrate.  Buy things to mourn.  Buy things to keep up with the trends.  Buy things while you’re buying things,  and then buy a couple more things after you’re done buying things.  If you want it — buy it.  If you don’t want it — buy it.  Don’t make it — buy it.  Don’t grow it — buy it.  Don’t cultivate it — buy it.  We need you to buy.  We don’t need you to be a human,  we don’t need you to be a citizen,  we don’t need you to be a capitalist,  we just need you to be a consumer,  a buyer.  If you are alive you must buy.  Buy like you breathe,  only more frequently."

(I found years ago on a blog posting that is no longer available)~

The one thing we bought on Black Friday?

You'll have to read the posting to find out!

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Tradition runs deep in my family,  especially during holidays.  And,  of course,  some traditions change over time.  Or we create new ones.  No matter though,  for our traditions are always rooted in the past,  and if you've been reading my last few blog posts you'll know this to be true.  In fact,  I've written more about the fall and harvest this year than any other year previous.  That's because I celebrated this season more this year than any year previous.  That's because this season,  above all others for most people,  is the most traditional.

I loved every second of it,  too.

And it's still not over,  for the biggest fall harvest celebration happens every fourth Thursday in November,  also known as Thanksgiving.

But who are we giving thanks to?

That is the question.

Then there is Black Friday,  a more recent tradition for many that is now fully attached to Thanksgiving.

"Black Friday"  sees the mass of people who,  only a day before were giving thanks for what they had,  fight the droves to get that one item they can't live without.  And to bring it all home,  people have been known to get trampled to death so shoppers could get that all-important item:

(From CBS News a few years back)

A worker died after being trampled by a throng of unruly shoppers when a suburban Wal-Mart opened for the holiday sales rush Friday, authorities said.

At least three other people were injured.

A police statement said shortly after 5 a.m., a throng of shoppers "physically broke down the doors, knocking  (the worker)  to the ground."

This is what it's all about, eh?

You can have it.

I can honestly say that I have only been shopping  (at major chain stores)  on black Friday once in my adult life,  and that was about 30 years ago.  Since then I've had other much more important things to do than to buy stuff   'on sale'  that I wouldn't otherwise spend money on.  It's true...I am pretty much anti-black Friday.

I'd like to show you mine and my family's traditions for Thanksgiving Weekend,  and how much joy we have:

Let's begin,  then,  with Thanksgiving Day itself.

Dawn is a feeling...
(my porch about 6:30 am)

Morning has broken...
(my porch about 7:30 am)

Holiday mornings are always the most peaceful,  even living in a suburb of Detroit  (lol).

Yes,  I decorate my porch for the fall time of year and it does give it a little rural flavor.  Last year was my first time doing this and I very much enjoyed how it looked and how I had a touch of country-in-the-city.  Like last year  I kept it up through Thanksgiving Day and then I passed it along to my daughter-in-law for her chickens.

 

Posed family photos are always a great thing at holiday gatherings as well.  

We do it,  too.  

But we also like to have a bit of fun with our posed pictures,  such as showing our Thanksgiving preparations:

My daughter Rosalia milked the cows.

My son Robbie shot a turkey,  and our dog,  Paul Anka,  retrieved it.

My grandson Ben tried to shoot a turkey,  too! 
Ahhh...one day soon he'll get one!

My grandson Liam got water from the pump.

My granddaughter Addy churned the butter -
her aunt Heather  (my daughter-in-law)  made sure
she did a good job and didn't dawdle.
Addy did a great job!

My wife Patty was ready to chop the head off the turkey.

My daughter-in-law Samm rode in with my grandson Eli!
The horse was lean and lank.

My son Tommy got himself some Common Sense
by reading Thomas Payne.

My son Miles was ready for the tavern,  considering it's
 the busiest bar weekend of the year!

Most men are said to have a  "man-cave."  

Not this guy---I have a  "History room,"  or what some friends have call our  "Greenfield Village room."  

We call it that as well sometimes,  or even our  "parlor,"  but mostly we call it our  "Gathering room,"

I absolutely despise the term  "man cave;"  it reverts men back to the Neandertal cavemen days.  I consider it a put down to men.

My anti-man cave as I prepared it for the family to come over.
Rooted in History...but not back to cave man days.  I like to think
I am a bit more intellectual than a cave man.

Another photo from roughly the same angle as darkness began its reign.

If you recall THIS posting from October,  you may remember reading about
our purchase of a new  "Harvest"  table.  Well,  here it is decked out for Thanksgiving. 
As is the rest of my back room.

The thing about living history is there are so many
things one can do.  As you've seen HERE and in other postings, 
I process flax.  But I also am sort of a chandler -
a candle-maker - and I've been making plenty of candles. 
Yes,  mostly by hand-dipping.
What you see here are but a few I have.

A few more hand-dipped candles here...

I have a little patriotic corner as well,  and include my framed copy of an
exact replication of the Declaration of Independence,  which was printed on
an 18th century printing press  (click HERE).  And there you see a wooden
Betsy Ross flag with the  "We hold these truths to be self-evident..." 
portion of the Declaration written upon it.

On the  "Victorian"  side of the room I have my little tribute to my grandfather, 
who was raised as a farmer in Sicily but moved to the US in 1912 and began
a trade making stoves at the Detroit Stove Works Company  (click HERE). 
This was his clock that was given to him by the company when he retired back
 in the 1950s.  Grandpa told me the clock was made in the 1890s.

My three eldest grandkids are ready to eat!

We say grace before our Thanksgiving meal.
As I asked earlier in the post:  who are we giving thanks to?
We in my family give thanks to the same God the Pilgrims did over 400 years ago.
I hope you do,  too.

I took this photo of everyone feasting on our blessed bounty.
The grandkids  (and Miles)  are there in the back.
This is looking toward the Victorian end of our room.

Tommy took this picture from his angle so I can be in the shot!
Looking toward the colonial end of the room.

Patty made an apple pie...and she also made a pumpkin pie 
(from pumpkin and not the cream bought in the store).

Every year my family - headed up by my sister - has an annual  "Cannoli Shell Making Day"  where many of us in my extended family  (as well as my own kids)  get together to make about 30 dozen cannoli shells - enough to spread around so we can take them to neighbors and friends and have for ourselves for the holidays.

Here is my famiglia,  all working together to make hundreds of  cannoli shells. 

And here is the outcome - Thanksgiving Day dessert.

Since our first Christmas together in our own apartment way back in 1984,  Patty and I have chopped down our own Christmas Tree.  And for most of the years - in fact,  since about 1987 - we've gone to Western's Tree Farm in Applegate,  Michigan.  Now,  when we first started going there it was a small business with just a small white shack that an older guy sat in and pretty much pointed the customer in the right direction for their tree choice and let them borrow a saw if they needed one.  Since then,  it's grown quite a bit,  building a log cabin store in 1992 selling unique Christmas decorations and having Santa there for the kids,  but it's still family-run and not overly commercialized.  It's still very rural-centric and small business.  

The logs used to build their cabin came from trees on the Western property.

Horses and/or tractors hauled families out to the tree of their choice.
The BEST,  I tell you!

Tommy and Samm with their four kids to see Santa Claus.
The Santa here leans old world - think this is the real deal?

Coulda' fooled me if he's not!

Then it was off to search for the perfect tree...er,  trees,  for Tommy & Samm planned to get one as well.

See?  Tradition - keeping it going to the next generation,  and the one after that!  Patty and I are proud grandparents that now our grandchildren enjoy our traditions.

We are blessed.  Truly we are.

Perhaps we're on Walton's Mountain to find that perfect tree?
As close as we'll ever be!  This is perfect!

And there  'tis!
A light shone down upon it from the heavens to let us
know this was the one,  just like in
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation!

My two sons cut it down for me (ain't sciatica a pain in the back?) 

But I was able to cut off the bottom branches
so it would fit in the tree stand easier.

The tree-cutting crew of 2022!
All my family was here except my daughter,  who had to work this
Friday after Thanksgiving,  otherwise known as Black Friday.
Our Christmas Tree,  and a couple of things from the Western's Craft Store, 
were the only Black Friday shopping we did,  I am proud to say.

And,  per tradition,  we stopped to get a bite to eat afterward.
This year we went to the Lexington A&W.

And soon - - - 

Ladies and gentlemen,  may I present to you our 2022 Christmas Tree!

Now,  there is one more thing I do on Thanksgiving Weekend,  per my own personal tradition:

I visit Greenfield Village while dressed in my period 18th century clothing on or near Black Friday,  and have for over a decade now.  Most times a few friends will join me.

This year was no different.

But I'm not going to get too much into our Village visit here.  I'll save it for
my next posting in about a week or so.  The picture here is just a teaser.
Pic by Chris Robey

I know there is nothing truly historical in this post,  but if you notice,  the past has a strong hold on our present.  We are filled with tradition in my family,  from our annual corn roast on Labor Day Weekend to apple picking in later September to candle dipping in October or early November to our Thanksgiving weekend activities,  and I am so very thankful that our children follow suit,  even as adults.  And our grandchildren love and look forward to it now.  

Best of all,  the traditions we have we do as family...and that doesn't  include the newer tradition of black Friday.

But it does  include celebrating the harvest,  as has been done for centuries.

That makes me happy.

Until next time,  see you in time.

Blessings to you all.

To read about early American   (colonial)  Thanksgiving celebrations,  please click HERE

To read about 19th century  (Victorian)  Thanksgiving celebrations,  please click HERE

~   ~   ~