Traditions - Thanksgiving in Alabama

Have you ever wondered how other families and/or cultures celebrate the holidays?  I do, all the time and like any other curious human, I ask a lot of questions.  In our family our most celebrated holiday is Christmas, we stick to a lot of our traditions and celebrate in a big way.  I will share more about our traditions as we get closer to the day, but for now, I’d like to share how one family celebrates Thanksgiving in Alabama.  For the Cobb’s, Thanksgiving is the holiday where the entire family will come together for four days to celebrate.  

Although, this year, not everyone was able to attend, they still had a wonderful celebration.  In past years, the Cobb’s enjoy the company of 30 of their family members, some are locals and others fly from all over the country to be together for the weekend.  Here’s an itinerary of what their weekend is like. 

THANKSGIVING DAY

Their big day is here and their Matriarch will start cooking early.  As the day progresses, family members start to gather, each will bring their favorite homemade dishes.  Their official Thanksgiving meal is at 1:00 PM.  After lunch, they all gather around the television to watch football. Board games will follow and will typically end at midnight.  This year, a few of them decided to add a mixture to the usual competition by shipping boards games to Alabama before the holiday weekend.

FRIDAY AFTER THANKSGIVING

Black Friday shopping is a big part of their tradition and will start first thing in the morning to take advantage of all the early bird specials.  Usually there is enough time in between to play a few more board games before watching football.  Their night will progress to a board game competition until about 10:00 PM.

SATURDAY

Saturday is for the Iron Bowl.  The family Matriarch will fry the best Hush Puppies (fried corn bread).  Grandpa will fish all year long and will fry the fish he has caught on this day, typically, it is catfish.  Their Saturday meal includes, french fries, hush puppies, catfish and whatever dessert they had left over from Thanksgiving.  The football game, takes precedence as this is a big tradition for their family.  Most family members are Auburn fans and one will cheer for Alabama.  This home is divided and there will be a whole lot of competitive banter.  Their night will always end with more board game competitions.  

SUNDAY

Grandma will cook a very delicious southern breakfast - handmade biscuits, sausage and grits.  This is followed by a Scrabble tournament.  The Matriarch always goes up first and she will have a little one-on-one competition with each family member until everyone starts to head home or to the airport to catch flights.

For the Cobb’s, the weekend is full of joy and laughter.  As they all head back to their respective homes, they will soon start to yearn and look forward to the time they will meet again. They are constantly reminded that no matter where they each find themselves in the world, home is where the heart is.

Stay tuned for more family traditions throughout this holiday season.

Xoxo - G