A few of us here at National Braille Press wanted to share our favorite Thanksgiving traditions and memories. Tell us yours, too!

On Black Friday, my family takes a ferry to Block Island, a small 3-mile wide island off the coast of Rhode Island, for the annual “Christmas Stroll.” Island shops welcome visitors with hot cider and chocolate, selling gifts and sundries, and the locals have constructed a huge “lobster pot Christmas tree.” We make sure to hit the beach (deserted this time of year) and finally stop in the local pub for a brew and late lunch before our cruise home.

—Jackie Sheridan

As a child of divorce, I have the benefit of two meals. I usually spend Thanksgiving Day with my dad, eating all of our favorite snacks and watching Criminal Minds. We eat a traditional turkey dinner with my favorite dish, sweet potatoes. At night, I go to my mom’s house for piles on piles of dessert. My mom’s house is filled with music, so we spend the night enjoying great tunes and a sugar coma!

—Whitney Mooney

My maternal side of the family are all from Canada, including me, so we typically recognize Canadian Thanksgiving in October and American Thanksgiving in November with nice meals, but don’t really celebrate them.

The only “tradition” I can think of is that we always put the pumpkin pie on top of the coffee pot because the first year we had our dog, Tucker, he jumped on the counter and poked his nose in the pie so there was a giant hole dug into it.

—Hannah Ransom Canning

My brother and I always watch the National Dog Show.

—Elizabeth Kent

My favorite Thanksgiving tradition—besides all the wonderful, homemade food and the joy of having the entire family together—is that before we ate, we would go around the table and everyone would share what they were thankful for that year.

—Kesel Wilson

Every Friday after Thanksgiving (before it became known as Black Friday), my family and I would go to the Worcester Gallery and then the Auburn Mall for holiday sales, decorations, and music. We always had the traditional meal of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and a fruit and nut tray.

—Elizabeth Bouvier

My dad likes to take everyone to the movies. We don’t have a very big family, so just getting to spend the day together is special.

—Josh Smaltz

We like to play Apples to Apples, Cards Against Humanity, or Risk with the cousins out of earshot of the adults.

—Joel Spinale

We watch football and make turkey and mashed potatoes, a traditional Thanksgiving.

—Cham Cha

My family, like many others, has a Thanksgiving tradition of eating A LOT! Food plays such a central role in bringing us together for good company and conversation around the dining table. “Aunt Debbie, this stuffing is amazing!” “Uncle Lance, I’ve never had a pecan pie I liked before, but this is fabulous!” Writing this now, I can almost feel the cozy warmth of our kitchen and smell the delicious smells that greet me as I come in from the biting cold of a late November day in Wisconsin.

Because food is so important to our family’s Thanksgiving celebration, I was uneasy four years ago at my first holiday meal after adopting a plant-based diet. What would I be able to eat? Would my family make fun of me? Or worse, would they feel that my choice to forego the turkey and sausage stuffing was a condemnation of the traditions so important to them? It turned out I needn’t have worried. There were curious questions about why in the world I had chosen this path, but they just made for more lively conversation in which none of us felt judged or defensive. And the best part? So much of what makes up the traditional American Thanksgiving plate turns out to be plants! From mashed potatoes to rolls, sweet potatoes to green bean casserole, cranberry sauce to pumpkin pie, all have plants as their main ingredients and can easily be made without milk, eggs, or butter and are just as delicious. I left that holiday table just as stuffed as I’d ever been, and with the peace that comes with living in line with the values I hold dear.

—Wynter Pingel

Thanksgiving is always about the whole family gathering together. As children, we always were excited to eat in the formal dining room with old English china and cut crystal pitchers full of apple cider, and my responsibility was to clean the tarnish off of my grandmother's fancy silverware, monogrammed with "M" for our last name. I marveled how the darkened candle holders, spoons, forks, and knives could get all shiny and new again just by using a magic cream and rubbing them with a cloth. Now that I look back, it was the perfect chore to keep me busy and out of the way. The rest was just heaven: the whole family eating together, passing around the turkey, cranberry sauce, homemade stuffing, and the pumpkin pie smothered in fresh whipped cream!

—Brian Mac Donald