Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays.

Of course, as a child, I loved the magic of Christmas, but I loved the celebration of Thanksgiving more and the traditions that came along with it. Each year, my Mama, myself and later, my younger sister Abbie, would spend the night at my grandparents’ house in Soperton. I usually got to camp out in Grandma’s bed with her, snuggled under the quilts she and Grandaddy had crafted. Somewhere there’s a picture of us both in bed, heads propped up and reading a book before turning off the lights to go to sleep.

The next morning would be a swirl of activity as Daddy arrived, and my aunts, uncles and all my cousins came through the door. I was the oldest of the youngest. Meaning, there was a significant age gap between the cousin closet in age to me. This meant that I was the grandchild that had to – no, had the privilege – of reading Psalm 100 aloud for the family before the blessing.

And what a blessing it was. Grandaddy was a Southern Baptist preacher, you see. We all held hands in a huge circle that encompassed the entire kitchen and dining room.

My first duties helping with the Thanksgiving meal was cracking eggs for potato salad. Then I graduated to making fruit salad, then to green bean casserole.

At some point, I was awarded the prestigious opportunity for Grandma to teach me how to make her dressing. There is no recipe written down. There is no measurement memorized. It's a "hmm, I think this needs more _____" process.

Some came before me and tried to learn, but never got it quite right.

I watched carefully, trying to commit the ingredients and steps to memory, but with a special occasion dish like dressing, you need practice. And one time isn’t enough practice. So, the next year, I did more of the cooking and less watching and so it continued. As Grandma’s health declined over the years, she would supervise from a distance – sometimes the adjacent dining room, sometimes only when I would take things into her bedroom to make sure the consistency was right.

A time went on, I moved in with my now-husband Jason, got married and stopped spending the night before Thanksgiving at their house. That meant Mama and Grandma would do the prep work, like cooking the chicken and the cornbread, so all the ingredients were ready for assembly when I got there. I had graduated to Dressing Chef.

In February 2011, Grandpa died before Jason and I got married in November. And someone else had to say the blessing that year, but I continued reading Psalm 100.

Around 2015 or 2016, I made a practice pan at home and I knew I’d finally gotten the dressing recipe right. So, I decided instead of Grandma doing all the prep work and me doing the cooking, I would do it all at home and bring over an already cooked pan of dressing.

I felt like an imposter. I knew that everyone would taste the dressing and know that Grandma – Evelyn McCain – had NOT had a hand in the cooking of that dressing.

But as people started eating, I heard, "This tastes just like Grandmama's" and she gave me a thumbs up. From then on, I cooked the dressing from start to finish at home and it traveled with me to Soperton for the feast.

In March 2018, Grandma passed away. It was also the year that Jason and I moved into our new home. One of my requirements for our home was a dining room with the intention of one day hosting Thanksgiving dinners at my house. Since 2018, I’ve been doing that.

In addition to my mom and dad, sister and brother-in-law, we are also joined by my Aunt Jennie Deal and my mother-in-law Shelia Lee.

We still read Psalm 100 and my brother-in-law Carson offers up the blessing. And we still gather in our kitchen before eating many of the same dishes that we once gathered around a table in Soperton to feast upon.

Ashlee Hooks Corbin is a columnist for Discovering Bulloch and a writer for the Statesboro Herald.

Thanksgiving memories

Leslie Deal Akins:

“Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite days of the year. After my grandmother passed a few years ago, it’s never been quite the same. Her dressing was a delicious staple that should have been written up in a magazine somewhere. She never wrote down the specific instructions for it, but my mom and her siblings have pulled it off every year, piecing together the memories of how she made it.

“I also remember the excitement as children of drawing names for Christmas with our cousins on Thanksgiving Day. We couldn’t wait to write down all the names and tear them into strips and place them into a red Solo cup. Thanksgiving felt like the gateway to Christmas and there was just so much time with family during that season.”

Jeniffer Johnston:

“In our family we love to stay up late the night before, we gather around the table and do all of preparation, chopping, and baking for the next day. Talking, laughing, sharing stories, and spending time together making all of our favorite holiday dishes. In our family it’s not the spices, the gravy or the green beans that make our holiday great, it’s the family, the friends, and the memories we share that makes our Thanksgiving special.”

Jason Barnes:

“Waking up to the fresh smell of coffee or bacon frying not so much but for me on thanksgiving morning it was always the smell of fresh baked country corn bread! Every thanksgiving morning the cornbread that would soon become the dressing had to be cooked so it could cool and even so now today that everyone is going their own way and no family traditions seem to hold anymore I still get up that morning and cook a big skillet of cornbread just for the smell! Traditions come and go from generation to generation but memories never fade.”

Linsay Cheney Rudd:

“When I was younger, we would always travel to my uncle’s house in Florida to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with my dad’s side of the family. One year, after we had gotten our fill of turkey and dressing, napped on the couch and watched some football, we all decided to go watch a new movie at the local theater. Without the usual crowds, it felt like we had the theater all to ourselves, and that became our annual tradition.

“We don’t travel to Florida anymore, but we still catch a movie every year, and now that I’m older, I am so thankful for the sacrifice theater staff — and all those in the service industry — make by working on the holidays. Without them, traditions like these wouldn't be possible for the rest of us!”

Connie Hayes:

“Ours is special because we always gather and pray. We vary our meals, but always sweet potato casserole, turkey, dressing, and greens. But we could have grilled burgers as long as my kids come.”

Lisa D. Turner:

“Thanksgiving has always been a special time for our family. We look forward to being together to celebrate the past year and give thanks for all of our blessing and God’s grace. The one food staple that has to be made and put on the table is a pan of our Granny Ruby’s dressing. It has to be made with a hen and the minced onion cooked thoroughly with butter so that you cannot see it. The other tradition is a red velvet cake.

“My Granny Douglas started this tradition when I was a little girl as my birthday is always close to Thanksgiving. Let’s definitely not forget the pecan pie recipe that was our Papa Joe’s. We have handed down this recipe for generations. Of course, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade is on the television while we are bustling around the kitchen then after lunch it’s on to catching up with the family and playing board games. May you all have a Happy Thanksgiving.”