Recon Rendezvous: Our Thanksgiving Traditions

Welcome to AWN’s Monthly Recon Rendezvous. We’re so glad you are here. As the name implies, Recon Rendezvous is a place of community and connection. It’s an opportunity to explore and learn about our fellow military supporters’ lives, victories, trials, and experiences.

Each month, we “rendezvous” here to provide information, resources, and encouragement. Thanks for contributing to our empowerment of military spouses across the globe!

One of my favorite parts of the milspouse life is hearing other peoples’ stories. The stories of the good times, the hard times, the times of triumphs, the dreams, and the hopes for the future. This premise is the basis of our Recon Rendezvous series—the tips, tricks, and experiences that make this milspouse life worth it (and so much more).

This month, we are jumping into the holiday hearts of our followers. It’s all about tradition, specifically Thanksgiving traditions. Some of them are so cool you might decide to adopt them for yourself!

“For Thanksgiving, my husband and I have a cook off to see who has the best food, then invite friends who won’t be having dinner with their families over for food and social time. For Christmas, almost the exact same thing except for presents of course!” —Amber K. P.

“For the last nine years, we’ve taken the easy way out for Thanksgiving dinner, and it has become our tradition. Due to moving around, not being able to spend the holiday with all our kids, and my work schedule only giving me Thanksgiving day off, I didn’t want to spend the entire day cooking for three people. We started ordering the Cracker Barrel Thanksgiving-to-Go dinner. We call in a week ahead, order dinner with all the trimmings, select a time to pick it up, and poof! No cooking! We eat, spend the day together, and no one has to stress over cooking or doing a ton of dishes.” — Charlotte B.

“For Thanksgiving, we do the usual Turkey Day food. While we’ve lived in places where a lot of friends were also far away from family, we would end up having two or three Thanksgiving meals. Now that we’re closer to family, it isn’t like that, but those are some good memories. Then, of course, Black Friday shopping at all hours of the night and morning.” — Mary S.

“Thanksgiving is all about time and food with family, if possible. We’re seldom around family, so we host a huge get-together at our house for those who are away from family like us, with the usual: Turkey, mashed potatoes, greens, rolls, sweet potato casserole, and lots of pies!” — Joy H.

“Since my husband and I were both in the Army, the first couple of years we spent Thanksgiving and Christmas with the family that lived the closest (it happened to be his). Eventually, I felt it was unfair to my family and decided we would always open our home to family that wants to join but would no longer travel and participate in others’ traditions. We now have two children, and I still spend my Thanksgiving cooking and hanging out with my husband and kids.” — Alisha C.

“We go out to eat for Thanksgiving with my family. Then, we browse through Black Friday catalogs with my mom and plan our shopping trip. Afterward, we hit the Disney store and Walmart, since the stores can’t wait until Friday to open anymore. The Saturday after Thanksgiving is our family tree day. Me, hubby, kids, Nana, Pap, and Uncle Ryan go to a tree farm to get a tree, then decorate it after a buffet-style meal.” — Nichole L.W.

“Our Thanksgiving traditions include making the turkey for lunch and dinner and putting up the tree. Then, we decorate the tree the next day.” — Cricket D.

“My husband proposed to me the night before Thanksgiving. I will always be thinking of that at Thanksgiving time of year and feel that our marriage is my best blessing to be thankful for—always, not just on Thanksgiving. We eat traditional Thanksgiving foods—turkey and all of the carbs! His mom taught me how she makes turkey soup, so we enjoy that now, too.” — Angie A.

“As a child, Thanksgiving was about having the entire family over for dinner and watching football. As a military spouse, it’s turned into inviting every person or family who is not going home for that holiday and making sure there isn’t a service member left in the barracks alone on Thanksgiving. I also love Black Friday shopping, if only just to people-watch, and I love meeting spouses who love to go with me.” — Erica G.

“For Thanksgiving, I always make my mom’s cheesy broccoli rice casserole (I took it over after she got sick and passed).” — Anne M. B.

“We deep fat fry our turkey for Thanksgiving and Christmas. We make turkey pot pies with the leftovers. A family favorite.” — Kowanda E.M.

“Thanksgiving is a serious family day for us. Nothing specific for tradition, minus that we are all together—grandparents, parents, siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles. We’re a big Italian family. Since being married, my husband joins my family for our Thanksgiving.” — Jacquelyn W.

“For Thanksgiving, we do the traditional big dinner, then watch football/put together puzzles after stuffing ourselves.” — Makenzie G.E.

Readers, we would love to hear all about your Thanksgiving traditions. Jump in and leave a comment below.

We wish you a very bountiful Thanksgiving this year!