Big Turkey Day
Most everyone has a favorite holiday, and there are any number of ways that people demonstrate which holiday is indeed their favorite. When asked, they can tell you why. Often you don’t even have ask; by what they do, you just know.
Her favorite holiday is Christmas; it always has been, and there’s little doubt it always will be. She has a specific date on which she begins to turn the house into her personal version of a Christmas homestead. It’s artfully done through a long and careful process that takes hours and requires countless trips to the attic, retrieving tub after tub of decorations. One at a time the tubs are emptied, and once again the pieces delicately stored from previous years take their place in the montage that forms the warm mosaic of how she sees her favorite holiday.
On November 1st, she begins drinking a holiday coffee blend—not a day before. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, she begins watching Christmas movies. Some she’s seen more times than she can count, but that’s of little or no concern—they’re Christmas movies! And every year she makes the same comment when it’s once again time to store Christmas away until the next year. “It’s so much more fun putting Christmas up that packing it away.”
Over the years she has found special ways to make “her” holiday bright for others. Special food, phone calls to family and friends, donations to those in need, and generally sharing in the joy of the season. However, one thing she did many years ago, has caught on and has become its own little holiday within a holiday.
As the Grandchildren were old enough to be aware of Christmas, she planned a day to begin the season for them. On that day, the Friday after Thanksgiving, she planned a deliberate, purposeful, and meaningful transition into the Christmas season. It all started with advent calendars and Christmas jammies. The change in the seasons had been made, and Christmas time was under way. One year one of the Grandkids ask what that day was called. Off the cuff and with absolutely no hesitation she said, “Well it’s Big Turkey Day.” And with that a new holiday was born.
It started small, but over the years it’s grown. Everyone in the family is involved, including those who have joined the team over the years. She now shops year-round for those special items that can include hats, gloves, slippers, T-shirts and the traditional jammies to candy, decorations, and even household items like soap, napkins, and condiments that carry a Christmas theme. Of course, there is always an advent calendar, but anything Christmas is fair game!
For the four little people who celebrated that first Big Turkey Day and many since, it’s become a colorful thread in the fabric of the family’s holiday season. Even though they’re now all adults out in the world making their way in life, they still enjoy Big Turkey Day each year. It’s a tradition, something to look forward to, something to do together, a day set aside for opening the Christmas season, something to be cherished and remembered.
As is often the case, a little family tradition can be so appreciated that it’s just assumed that everyone does it. That was demonstrated a few years ago, when one of those little people asked her boyfriend, “When does your family celebrate Big Turkey Day?’ She was somewhat surprised to learn that he had no clue what she was referring to. Nonetheless later that year, he became one of the new participants in the day.
This year, a new family will be taking part, since one of those little people is now married. Over the years, those four initial celebrants have spread the holiday to Pittsburgh, Carlisle, West Virginia, and Indiana. This year, for the first time, Big Turkey will be celebrated on two continents. One those little people, will be celebrating the day in Germany.
When she started, it was small; a kindness, some generosity, an expression of love, a tangible sharing of something that has great meaning for her. Inspired by such genuine and pure motivations, it’s no small wonder that it’s continued and developed into so much more. Powered by the same motivations that prompted it in the first place, it’s become its own family tradition, and as such it’s built its own legacy.
As the holiday season opens, be reminded of what Lincoln called “. . . the better angels of our nature.” Tangible gifts are appreciated, but the truest gift, the real legacy of the season, is found in the spirit of kindness, generosity, and love that prompted and sustains traditions like Big Turkey Day!
Thank you very much Nana!