Brad Hall: HALL THINGS CONSIDERED: Be thankful during it all and for it all

Nov. 24—I admit I'm guilty of turning November and December into one giant celebration of Christmas that takes a weekend break for Thanksgiving.

However, I have loved the Turkey Day holiday for as long as I can remember.

I enjoy all of the traditions that come with it, and I have many fond memories of my family's own traditions.

When I was a youngster, we would always make stops at both of my grandparents' houses. Sometimes we would squeeze in other visits, or even host dinner ourselves, but we always celebrated with my grandparents.

My Papaw Hall always made homemade dumplings that we all loved. He even cooked the turkey and sliced it up for us. Then my Nanny would handle the mashed potatoes, stuffing, vegetables and rolls.

Then on my mother's side of the family, there was more Thanksgiving fun to be had with my Papaw and Granny DeBoard.

I would get to visit with my uncles and play Nintendo with them while we waited for the food. Then later on we would all dig in and enjoy a delicious dinner.

On a side note about sides — my grandmothers would probably be embarrassed by me saying this but both of them were the absolute best at preparing boxed macaroni and cheese.

My Nanny always made Velveeta Shells and Cheese, while my Granny made the Kraft Macaroni and Cheese in the iconic blue box. I'm not sure what they did any differently than everyone else, but they always prepared it perfectly.

I mostly mention this because I love macaroni and cheese so that was certainly a Thanksgiving delight for me as well.

Of course, we also enjoyed the traditional Thanksgiving Day football games wherever we were. No matter which house we were at, if the game was taking place, then it was on the TV.

On two separate occasions, I went out of town for Thanksgiving weekend.

Back around 1997, many of us on my dad's side of the family drove down to the Gallatin suburb of Nashville to have Thanksgiving at the home of my great-uncle and aunt.

I will always remember that weekend fondly because so many members of my extended family were there. Many of us stayed a couple of nights so we got to have a lot of fun visiting and doing a little exploring of Nashville.

Then around 2004, my mom and stepdad took my brother and I to Chicago for Thanksgiving. Mom had won a free stay at a nice hotel downtown. So we were within walking distance or a short bus trip to many popular attractions like the Navy Pier, Millennium Park, The Chicago Theatre, and the Michigan Avenue shopping district.

Most recently, it has become our tradition to enjoy Thanksgiving at my father-in-law's house. His wife always cooks a delicious meal, and the family is always a joy to spend time with.

We've even made the brave decision to tackle a few doorbuster sales over the years so I could get my hands on an HDTV, Blu-ray player, and — most importantly — a $3 waffle iron.

While enjoying all of these fun times though, I've tried my best lately to weave in another tradition for Thanksgiving and that's remembering to actually be thankful.

There's always so much going on and so many places to be that it can be very difficult just to remember why we celebrate Thanksgiving in the first place. It's hard to remember everything you're thankful for when you're just trying to remember where you're supposed to be next.

On top of that, it's also easy to forget being thankful for all of those places to go and people to see.

It can certainly be stressful trying to get everyone's schedules to line up so that we can spend time with everyone. So because of that stress, it's easy to forget just how blessed I am that I have all of those loved ones I try to make time for.

For a variety of reasons, there are many people out there who don't have anyone to spend holidays with. They would probably be jealous of all of the people I get to visit and all of the nice meals I get to sit down to.

So while it might sound crazy to be thankful for the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, we honestly should be thankful for it. and we should remember to be thankful during all of the hustle and bustle as well.

1 Chronicles 23:30 says, "And to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord, and likewise at even."

No matter if you celebrate Thanksgiving traditions all month long, or if it's an intermission from the Christmas season, there is a lot of fun to be had and a lot of memories to be made during the Turkey Day holiday. But in the midst of all of the traveling, planning, shopping, eating, and visiting, don't forget to be thankful through it all and to be thankful for it all.

Brad Hall is the nighttime editor of the Times-Tribune. He can be reached at bhall@thetimestribune.com