There’s the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. There’s the Detroit Lions playing football on Thanksgiving. Of course, there’s turkey to be eaten. All are Thanksgiving traditions.

Folks in Beaufort County are surrounding areas also have Thanksgiving traditions. Some of those traditions are decades old. Others are fairly new.

Julia M. “Betty” Gray describes her favorite Thanksgiving tradition.

“My mother, Julia Mitchell, was a very good cook and a great hostess. Growing up on Thanksgiving, she always used the good china, silver, glassware and sat at the dining room table for lunch – placemats, cloth napkins, etc. — which was served as a buffet. Everything had to be ‘just so.’ The dining room table centerpiece was a group of silk vegetables that she had collected over the years. We had the obvious — turkey, ham, Pepperidge Farm dressing, scalloped oysters, cranberry sauce, rice, little green peas, an assortment of pickles and other relishes,” she wrote in an email. “After I got married, Rick and I began hosting Thanksgiving at our house and I carried on the tradition. Over the years, however, I substituted Brussels sprouts for the little green peas and a pumpkin gratin for the rice. Scalloped oysters remained steady over the years. Mom’s silk vegetables and platter are currently sitting on my dining room table,” she wrote in an email. “I forgot the sweet potato fluff. Mom made the traditional sweet potatoes with marshmallows too. I never did care for that, I guess that’s why I forgot it.”

Ed Hamrick shares his Thanksgiving tradition in his email:

“There are usually 6 families that come to our house for Thanksgiving. We eat a late lunch, and then the younger group plays football until someone gets hurt, or the older ones tire.
“Upon leaving our house, each family is given an Amaryllis ‘grow kit.’ The family whose plant blooms first, is the ‘winner.’ DeeDee Anderson is annually accused of opening the boxes to find the one which has the best developed root. Kathleen Barr usually wins — we all claim that she keeps her house too warm, and, therefore, has an unfair advantage. Lots of fun is had by all.”

Gary Woolard provides one of the newer traditions.

“Once the Cracker Barrel opened in Greenville, that immediately became my family’s tradition. Dad loves their pancakes, mom loves their thanksgiving special, I love their Catfish. My dad’s brother, who happens to be married to my mom’s sis, always joins us along with another couple we have all known for years. Sometimes we get some other family members or friends to join us. But, it’s been going on so long now, it really has become a tradition with us,” he wrote.

On Facebook, Linda C. Clark shared the following:

“Thanksgiving is not complete in my home without Rutabagas. Long ago, we nicknamed ’em ‘stinkabaters…’ We served them to our good friends from Pennsylvania, the Kims, who’d never tried them. To some, the pungent rutabaga, a very flavorful, vitamin-rich cross between a cabbage and a turnip proves to be as daunting as trying a raw oyster for the first go. So, our guests held their noses and tried the lumpy mash. They liked it–but–said they still wished the smell could be improved.”

Crystal Holman’s post on Facebook reads, “Thanksgiving is kinda old school for us preperations begin on Tuesday before Thanksgiving…we wash the collards and any other veggies that need it…the Wednesday well thats when we make cucumbers and vinegar, desserts, cook the ham and make the chicken salad. Of course we are guilty of a little ham nibble and maybe partaking in the chicken salad on Wednesday but with devil eggs to make…we gotta eat! Then finally comes the big day… Macy’s Parade in the background as collards, veggies and Tom Turkey is cooked….mmm the homemade mashed taters…collard taters and all the finishing touches to make a perfect family meal. Let’s not get started on those omelettes on Friday morning made from the ham….ooooooh my!”