The 225 team is gearing up to be OOO for Thanksgiving.
Our Slack chats have been full of holiday emojis and chatter about our Turkey Day plans, from the food we can’t wait to indulge in to the family rituals we cherish.
We’re sharing a few of our recent traditions below. We’d love to hear about yours, too! Send us a note at [email protected].
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“My family is starting a new Thanksgiving tradition this year. A few days before the holiday, we’ll load up the car and the kids and make the eight-hour trek from Baton Rouge to Austin, Texas, to spend time with out-of-town family. Since we’ll be guests in my in laws’ kitchen and our car will be packed to the brim with kid paraphernalia, I’m planning to make our contribution to the Thanksgiving spread sweet but simple: warm, delivered-to-your-door chocolate chip cookies from Tiff’s Treats. These freshly baked cookies are one of the things I miss most about living in Texas. They are a delicious, crowd-pleasing surprise that always hits the mark. A birthday at the office? Tiff’s delivery. A friend got dumped? Send them some Tiff’s. For baby announcements, thank you’s, congratulations or just to say I’m thinking of you, Tiff’s provides. And this year I plan to have them delivered on Nov. 22 to help make the hectic-ness of the holidays a little more palatable–in more ways than one.”
—Laura Furr Mericas, 225 managing editor
“My enduring appreciation for the holiday yam is fueled by my maternal grandmother routinely calling me ‘Sweet Potato,’ (sometimes even while instructing me on how to prepare this titan of a side dish). In our family, it started with scooping out a fresh orange half and refilling it with mashed sweet potatoes blended with butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. The best part was the topping: marshmallows burnished golden brown after a trip to the oven. As an adult, I still drool over gooey melted marshmallows, but I alternate a candied pecan topping, too, to give diners a choice. I love this dish for its single-serving tidiness and the way a hint of orange is imparted in the flavor. You’ll love it, too, Sweet Potato.”
—Maggie Heyn Richardson, 225 features writer
“My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in the morning as my family preps any last-minute dishes. Like a little kid, I’ll still run out of my room when getting ready to see the Snoopy or Charlie Brown balloons.
My other favorite tradition is THE turkey hat. It’s a silly felt hat resembling the main bird of the holiday that I think I found at Target years ago. I always make my paw-paw wear it as he’s trimming the turkey. Though he’s never been too fond of the turkey hat, he sports it every year and lets me snap a pic to post on my socials. And, of course, he lets me sneak a few fresh-cut pieces before anyone else.”
—Olivia Deffes, 225 digital staff writer
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“Our Thanksgivings are always loud. It feels like my cousins and I are catching up on a year’s worth of life. There are kids running around, and the grown-ups are running around like mad too. Sangria feels like the right cocktail for the chaos—not too potent, and the wine-soaked fruit becomes a snack to hold us all over until turkey. I’m constantly making new pitchers for the crowd throughout the night, and using Sprite instead of sugar and seltzer is my favorite trick to add fizz and sweetness. It is a quick way to ensure the flavors blend.
I’m also obsessed with digging through my mom’s linens and china to make tablescapes. Last year, I got her these Lucid liquid candles for her birthday—they have a real flame, but they don’t drip wax. Now we can have holiday candlelit dinners without scraping wax off the tablecloth after. Game changer. And this year, I’ll bring home a copy of 225 to follow the tablescaping tricks published in our November issue.”
—Jennifer Tormo Alvarez, 225 editor-in-chief