Paula Melton: We have a very unusual tradition of always making a vegetarian “roast beast.” It's sculpted from various parts of the meal, with mashed potatoes playing a big role as an excellent sculpting medium. Last year, we made a tardigrade.
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Laura Lynette Chapman: The company who enjoys it with me. That's all that really matters. Everything else is gravy.
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Darren Lenois: My family always worked on Thanksgiving. Being young, I didn't understand missing out on traditions and family unity. Today, I really enjoy going to the community Thanksgiving meals - now my personal tradition - because I get to surround myself with a lot of people who may have had similar life experiences.
I also like to take my daughter to the community meals to take the opportunity to talk about being grateful and thankful, and to experience humanity, opportunity, and the importance of education.
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Karen L. Cribari: I always make oatmeal rolls from an old family recipe.
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Grace Elizabeth: Kids peeling potatoes in pajamas in front of the parade.
Piling into the living room and getting under shared blankets to watch Planes, Trains & Automobiles after post-dinner cleaning.
Making enough food to send guests home with abundant leftovers.
My husband and I are about a decade deep into brining our turkey with pho spices. It's a great transition, after all the heavy leftovers have been devoured.
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Laura Austan: Gravy. Gravy on turkey, gravy on stuffing, gravy on mash. Gravy really ties the meal together, like The Dude's rug.
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Diana Lischer-Goodband: My personal tradition for Thanksgiving is a wild rice stuffing to honor Native Americans. I always thank them at the dinner table, and also make an apology.
I honor my ancestors and think of my father's family coming over on the second Mayflower ship to Plymouth. I think of my stepfather, who was Delaware, and my best friend in high school, who was Apache. They helped me to understand all aspects of this holiday.
Thanksgiving is always a bittersweet event, but it is my favorite holiday when I can share the leeks from my garden that are still available and a turkey I have raised or ordered from my local farmer - along with applesauce made with apples my husband, Zeke, has grown at Scott Farm.
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Pam Serpas Kampitsis: Oyster dressing.
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Megan Dillenbeck: I absolutely have to have pumpkin pie and sweet potato casserole, with marshmallows! Growing up, my mom always made pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving (and Christmas) because it was my dad's favorite. It is also my favorite, and it just so happens that both of my daughters love it, too! So I always make it for us.
I love sweet potatoes in any form, and especially when you add butter, sugar, spices, and marshmallows! I am the only person in my house who likes it, so I always make myself some for the holidays.
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Lynn Forrest: Mashed rutabagas with lots of butter. My dad's favorite, probably because they're Scottish. In Scotland they're called “neeps.” Yum!
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Kris Alden: My two favorite dishes are a classic sage and onion stuffing and roasted acorn squash with goat cheese and cranberries with a little Chinese five-spice. Love them at dinner and even more on a turkey sandwich about midnight that evening.
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Pamela Simmons: There is just the two of us for that day, and my husband makes the best gravy! We look forward to family time after the rush of the holiday and the Putney Craft Tour has passed.
At our house, leftovers mean turkey and gravy in the skillet, with gravy poured over ... gravy.
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Catherine Cadieux: Roasted Brussels sprouts with bacon and craisins... maybe a dash of bourbon and maple syrup. Fabulous.
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Nancy Gates Gauthier: My mom's coleslaw - remembering the love and its creamy sweetness. She never wrote the recipe down, but my brother Skip and I have finally figured it out.
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Haley Elisha: Grammy's secret-recipe broccoli, which I can't bring myself to make her secret way, having found out exactly what kind of “cheese” she uses.
It's just cheezy broccoli. And it turns out the kind of cheez doesn't matter, as long as it is cheez, not cheese.
I can't bring myself to do it with anything but cheddar. And it tastes really good, my way. It just doesn't hit the nostalgia spot in the right way.
So everyone else loves it to pieces, and I just think, “It's not like Grammy made.” It's beloved because we ate it every year, I guess.
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Lisa Lambert Nicholson: Lots and lots of pies: apple, pumpkin, strawberry rhubarb, pecan, banana cream, all homemade.
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Janne E. Toivonen: The turkey, gravy, mashed sweet potatoes, green-bean casserole, homemade applesauce, Kerrygold butter, and cranberry pie, which is more like an upside-down cake. Then coffee for dessert. That's the essential part of my Thanksgiving. Very simple, very easy.
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Marion Wilber: Stuffing is a must - just because it isn't Thankgiving without the stuffing!
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Anne Connor Senni: Each family member brings a recipe and ingredients for the dish they most want included! Everyone cooks together - lots of laughs and lots of fabulous food.
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Richard Witty: Enfrijoladas.
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Sandi Rudski Capponcelli: Pumpkin cheesecake. My father-in-law's birthday is Nov. 23, and every year I make him a pumpkin cheesecake. I have been doing it for about 25 years, ever since I found the recipe in some magazine.
I have been told not to come without the cheesecake, and usually his first question when we arrive is if we have brought the cheesecake. I also grow the pumpkin for the cheesecake.