Thanksgiving Special Potatoes
The journey of enjoying Thanksgiving throughout the years.
Relief, I finally found a way to simplify Thanksgiving dinner so that I could enjoy spending the Holiday with my family. Only wish that I figured it sooner!
Looking back, the first time I truly enjoyed Thanksgiving was the year we moved out of state, far from any extended family. It was memorable because it was stress-free. No schedule. No people-pleasing. No worrying. Just us.
That was the moment I realized that I wanted all holidays to be less stressful, and I needed them to stay that way. Traditions had to change, they weren’t working. From then on, I made it my mission to create a calmer, more realistic holiday season for everyone.
Work was always chaotic around Thanksgiving. Getting time off was impossible, even the Wednesday before or the Friday after. Every year felt rushed, like I was sprinting through the week with more added to my TO DO LIST.
The turning point came when my son asked if I was okay. Apparently, I had that same stressed-out look my mother used to wear during the holidays. The look of trying to achieve unrealistic perfection. After I gave him the classic “I’m fine,” he smiled and said, “We love your Special Potatoes, but it’s just dinner. Do you want to play a board game?”
Who was I trying to impress? Why was I exhausting myself in the kitchen for hours in the middle of the night, cleaning before and after, chasing some imaginary gold star? The traditional holiday stress was stealing from my family instead of bringing us together.
So, I asked my family what they wanted for the next big holiday meal. Their pick? Lasagna. It wasn’t a failure, but they didn’t want it every year. They missed the family’s Special Potatoes.
Since they wanted something to go with the Special Potatoes, we brained storm and for the next few years the experiment continued. We were determined to figure out the best way to make Thanksgiving enjoyable for everyone.
So, I tried to buy all ready cooked Thanksgiving meals from different places, but it wasn’t right for us. The cost-effective meals were horrible tasting and a lot of stress dealing with pickups and the fine print.
The expensive Holiday Meals, did taste a little better but not by much. Most of the Holiday Meals that we tried were very expensive for what you received. It says serving for 10 to 12 people and it’s maybe enough to serve 4 to 6 servings. We’re not big serving size eaters, so it surprised me. They diffidently weren’t worth the cost at around $200-$300, plus range over 15 years ago. I’m not sure what they cost now, I’m afraid to look. Plus zero leftovers, it was a failure. The whole experience of picking up was not partiality enjoyable and felt like a marketing money grab than a holiday solution.
My family liked the Honey Ham from, The Honey Ham Company, which sounded easy, right? Wow, everyone else had the same idea and the lines were hours long with hundreds of people lined up, so that schedule didn’t work with my full-time job, even with an appointed time pick up time slot. The meal was out of our budget for what we wanted, so I just ordered the ham to go with my potatoes a Pumpkin pie and whatever I purchased to make from the store. With a large enough Ham, we had some leftovers for the weekend. It was tasted good most of the time, but after a few tries my family decided that they wanted to experiment with other options. Please note that I was living in extremely large cities at the time I order and this was many years ago, so they may have improved pick ups for a better customer experience. The current price for a Ham is around $90, with the Turkey Breast at $55 and the whole turkey $90. The starting price for meals is about $200 + the extras, but they now ship it frozen to your house!
So, I then tried to make a nice steak dinner, special potatoes and order special pies from resultants or pie companies, but that wasn’t quite right either. Everyone else at the time must have had the same ideas about the pies and it was always a fiasco. So special pies were a failure, so pies were easy enough to make or buy at Costco.
The special steak dinners were good for a while, but we wanted something new. So, I finally found what worked the best for our family’s Thanksgiving and other Special Holidays. It was good food with a fairly easy to order and pickup system. It also, allowed me to have the energy to teach my kids to make the ‘Special Potatoes’ and have food for the whole weekend!
When the next Thanksgiving came around, I ordered some Smoke Turkey along with Pulled Pork from a Red, Hot & Blue BBQ restaurant that slow cooks the meat for 12 hours. If you buy the meat by the pound, it was an affordable price. Currently it’s $17 to $18 per pound and I bought enough to last the weekend. Of course, I slurped on the Potato Salad, Cole Slaw, Peach Cobbler and a couple jars of the delicious BBQ sauce. It came our favorite restaurant while we lived on the East Coast. Glad to see it’s back in Raleigh, NC.
After we moved from the East Coast, back to the West Coast I ordered the BBQ Sauces shipped to our home a few times, so that we could enjoy the memories for a special surprise.
Now, every time we move we find our favorite local BBQ restaurants and order smoked meats (Smoked Turkey, Pulled Pork, ribs, Brisket or what specially meats they are cooking) by the pound and enjoyed with our ‘Special Potatoes’ and a Pumpkin Pie. The perfect holiday tradition was found for our family.
So, finally giving myself permission to be non-traditional has been the biggest gift. Hopefully teaching my kids that you don’t need to torment yourself in trying to make a prefect Thanksgiving dinner.
Having the energy to work full time, have a clean house and teach my children how to make the Special Potatoes Recipe on Thanksgiving so they will learn the recipe, is such a relief. Showing them, that it’s a family effort and it’s okay to adapt, simplify and still keep the one special dish that makes it feel like Thanksgiving special for everyone.
For my family, that special dish happens to be my dad’s ‘Famous Potatoes ‘ recipe that many enjoyed every holiday that he made them.
So now that we’re traveling…….
Traveling as a nomad hasn’t meant giving up Thanksgiving, it’s just changed the scenery. What’s lovely is how the holiday expands when you’re on the move. I’ve shared my ‘Special Potatoes’ recipe with new friends from dozens of countries. It’s amazing swapping recipes, learning local sides, and hearing family stories over sharing recipes. Sometimes we host a small potlucks, visit a restaurant with new friends or we eat on the beach at sunset. The point isn’t perfection, its connection and if you’re lucky, travel.
Travel makes those connections sweeter and more unexpected. No matter where I am, I always bring the ‘Special Potatoes’ Recipe to share.
My family’s ‘Special Potatoes’ are a tiny piece of home that I carry in my heart, it’s a comforting ritual that anchors the day. It’s proof that traditions can travel and evolve. Keep what matters, adapt what doesn’t and celebrate in a way that fits the life you’re living now.
Every year, my kids ask me for the ‘Special Potatoes’ recipe, even though I don’t think they ever needed it. They just want to relive the memories about how we perfected the ‘Special Potatoes’ recipe over the years and played board games on Thanksgiving.
Happy Thanksgiving - Have a great adventure!
