Thanksgiving 2025, a Holiday Meal in Two Parts

We celebrated Thanksgiving a bit differently this year. J’s work schedule on Thursday made it difficult to prepare a traditional meal in one day. I also wanted to enjoy cooking without rushing, so we spread the meal over two days.

On Thanksgiving Day, we had what I called “the appetizer course” — small, comforting dishes that didn’t require hours in the kitchen. The rest of the feast was saved for Friday, when I was more relaxed and could cook at my own pace.

When dinner was ready, I set the table with dishes my ancestors used. I placed the roasted chicken, bright orange squash, and gravy in bowls and platters that once belonged to my maternal grandmother, Geri Schmieman. Our dinner plates came from my maternal great-grandmother, Margaret Wayer. They were shipped to me last year by a cousin, who carefully wrapped them for shipping. They had sat in her attic for decades. We used them for the first time tonight. As far as anyone knows, they haven’t been used in over fifty years. That’s astonishing: a plate sitting untouched for half a century, only to be lifted again by my hands.

Then there were dishes from my current life — the blue Mexican plate holding biscuits, the simple modern dish for broccoli — woven into the arrangement like a conversation across eras. Pieces from Indiana (the Banat Swabian side), Minneapolis (the Palatine side), and a kitchen in San Miguel de Allende, all gathered around the same table.

I chose those plates intentionally, wanting to include the lineage of my life. Over time, my life has changed so much. Many parts of the past have fallen away, but on this traditional American feast, I wanted to hold onto some continuity — with people, eras, and meals from the past.

As we ate, I felt them near — Margaret, Geri, and the long line behind them — the Palatines, the Czechs, and the Danube Swabian women who cooked, fed, and cared for their families. They would understand the idea of spreading out the work over two days to make the holiday spacious rather than exhausting.

It wasn’t a grand meal, but it was a meaningful one. And it felt like the perfect way to celebrate the holiday this year.