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Every family who gets together for Thanksgiving has some sort of Turkey Day traditions in place. Whether it be the food served, the china and placemats they’re served on, or some sort of ritual performed like ‘giving thanks’ before, during, or after the meal.
My family has these rolling traditions that seem to pop up every few years and then the family acts like it’s something we’ve done every year without skipping a beat. This primarily concerns food.
Some years we’ll serve Florida Stone Crab as an appetizer (we’re Floridians) and act like that’s something we’ve done every Thanksgiving since the dawn of time. Other years, we’ll serve oysters a few different ways (Raw, Chargrilled, Rockefeller) and all the family members will act like that’s something we do every damn year (it’s not).
Jimmy Fallon asked his 50+ million followers on Twitter to share a quick tweet of their #TurkeyDayTradition and I’ve suddenly realized that my family’s rather boring when it comes to Thanksgiving. He combined the best responses into a quick video on last night’s episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon but I’ve also included a bunch of the tweets below because I know a lot of you would rather scroll through tweets than watch a video.
Here are those tweets I mentioned…
This has to be good luck for Thanksgiving, right? Right?!
https://twitter.com/LuckyLyzzie/status/1062368063750836224
This seems like a surefire way to f*ck up a kid for years.
i didnt understand thanksgiving as a kid why there was a big bird on the table? folks said its the turkeys birthday! why isnt there a candle?! in short, every year we put a candle in the turkey and sing it happy birthday #thanksgivingtraditions #turkeydaytradition
— michelle (@chelle127belle) November 13, 2018
I’m instituting this tradition in my household beginning this year.
HAM SLAP. You find an unsuspecting victim, preferably an uncle or aunt induced into food coma. Then you take a piece of ham and slap them in the face with it. #TurkeyDayTradition
— mhilary. (@megimonster) November 13, 2018
So we actually do something very similar to this but instead of having everyone sign a tablecloth we have them sign wooden napkin rings. You come to dinner once, sign your napkin ring, and it’s there forever anytime you come back to dinner.
I started having every person who spends thanksgiving with us sign a table cloth and throughout the year I have them embroidered so that as time goes on and people are no longer with us they are remembered on our table cloth. #TurkeyDayTradition
— Jessica Brannon (@Jesspatten_3287) November 14, 2018
I’d name the turkey after myself.
One year my cousin brought his vegetarian gf and she made us give the turkey a name and have a moment of silence before eating it…..Eugene was delicious #TurkeyDayTradition
— Gina Miller (@realisticfit00) November 13, 2018
Hard pass.
After Thanksgiving dinner, we try to find my now 88 year old great aunt a boyfriend online 😂 #TurkeyDayTradition
— Taylor (@tknepper44) November 13, 2018
#TurkeyDayTradition Our mom always sets out vintage pilgrim candles. While she’s busy with the food, we rearrange them in inappropriate sexual positions in the center of the table. Gets a good laugh every year.
— Sarah Ness Luke, PhD (@sarahnessluke) November 13, 2018
It seems like there’s probably a much better use for the leftover cranberry sauce than this.
Every year my grandma also makes to much cranberry sauce and so when we are all done eating someone draws a name from a hat and who the name is gets cranberry sauce poured over their head #TurkeyDayTradition
— ❤️😍🥰💕😂 (@JaCrispy1976) November 13, 2018
I like this family already.
https://twitter.com/deannapellerin_/status/1062382725733076993
Every year we go around the table and say what we're thankful for. Every year my cousin names every one in the room, saying he's thankful for them…. with the exception of my Aunt Denise. Who's always next to him. And asks him every year to mention her name. #TurkeyDayTradition
— C O U R T N E Y 🌱 (@icourtneycries) November 13, 2018
Now, THIS is what Thanksgiving is all about. This right here is why I put on my fat pants for Turkey Day.
https://twitter.com/tginavan24/status/1062374335384616960
You can check out more of these tweets by clicking here and perusing the hashtag on Twitter.