Thanksgiving is a tradition in my family. Since the age of six one of the Thanksgiving traditions has been to have two dinners. My parents are divorced and my brother and I always had to attend to separate dinners and even though we are grown we still do.
Both dinners are pretty much the same. They both have turkey, mashed potatoes with gravy, stuffing and pumpkin pie for dessert.
At my Father's Thanksgiving we have an orange jello salad, that has been made for generations in my family and the recipe is still being passed down. At my Mother's Thanksgiving we have LeFsa a Norwegian potato tortilla, it is usually served rolled up with butter inside. Even though my parents are divorced it is also a tradition for my Grandmother who makes the LeFsa to sneak a batch over to my Father's house without my Mother knowing. It never fails every year when I get to my Father's the first question is "Did your Grandma send the LeFsa?" and trying not to laugh I reply of course. LeFsa to my family is the same as having a roll with butter for Thanksgiving dinner, but when outside family members come to dinner it always seems to be unusual to them when asked, Would you like some LeFsa?" It usually is followed with "What?" and then we explain our tradition.
My first experience with a different kind of Thanksgiving was when I got to go to my boyfriend's family and they served variations of the food we had. Like twice baked potatoes instead of mashed,rolls instead of LeFsa and they even switched the turkey for prime rib. To me that was an unusual choice, but then again Thanksgiving is not always about the food, but instead it is the tradition of family coming together to give thanks.
When it is time to have my own Thanksgiving tradtions I will take my favorites from each dinner and let my children decide which they prefer turkey or prime rib, rolls or LeFsa and I proably won't attemp to make the orange jello salad on my own.
