Thanksgiving 2025: What Works Best

Happy Turkey Day, all! I’m spending the day with three generations of family—and, as usual on this special day, hearing my mom‘s voice in my head. This was her favorite holiday of all, she explained to me when I was about ten years old, because it didn’t require buying presents for everyone. (At the time, I didn’t quite get it.)

It’s not until right now that it finally occurs to me: all those years of home-cooked turkey feasts were a gift in themselves. Certainly Mom never thought of meal-making that way, because Thanksgiving was just a more time-consuming version of something she did most days.

Some of my earliest Thanksgiving memories are the age-appropriate kitchen prep tasks she found for me. It started with crumbling bread into stuffing-sized bits for my favorite side dish (hers too). Once I knew how to handle a knife, she taught me how to also handle the tears that came with cutting up onions. In my 20s, I took over the stuffing preparation completely—and began to really appreciate the special “chore” of cooking the big meal together.

It would be another 30 years before Mom let me handle the turkey roasting (with adequate supervision of course). I’ve never quite mastered her smooth and tangy gravy, perhaps because by that stage there are always too many hungry family members hovering around the stove.

In my grandmother’s house, the Thanksgiving meal was served at midday—which made the morning a stressful rush and also upset everyone’s usual feeding schedule. About thirty-odd years ago, my mother made a radical declaration: we would eat at 5pm, because it was better for both cooks and feasters. That timing has been the Newman tradition ever since. Another gift, teaching us all to evolve toward what works best!

For the past few years, my niece and nephews have handled Thanksgiving preparations. They love to cook together, and their meals are always delicious as well as beautiful. I help out when asked, but mostly I’ll spend the day swapping stories from the past—peppered with random memories of those who are no longer with us.

Here’s wishing you all an equally happy and satisfying gathering, at whatever time works best for you and yours. Thanks for reading, and see you next Thursday.