Thanksgiving is here, and it’s often filled with friends, family, drinks, and merriment. Central to the festivities are traditions that bind loved ones together. In Southern California, what those families look like and how they celebrate can be varied.
Saving a seat for mom
At every major holiday, Andrea Spatz and her two sisters have an important item that must make it to the dinner table — a burnt orange, knee-length Anne Klein coat. The article of clothing was their mother’s, who died 18 years ago.
“It's just such a humorous thing. Every time when we’re like, ‘Oh, you're bringing the stuffing? ... Don't forget the orange coat,” Spatz says.
She explains that her mom literally dragged the coat everywhere. “She looked like Linus with the blanket. She wouldn't put it over her, she would just drag it behind her. And winter, spring, summer or fall, she would have this coat with her.”
Andrea Spatz (center) and her two sisters make sure to bring their mother’s legendary orange coat to every major holiday meal. Photo courtesy of Andrea Spatz.
The coat, as Spatz explains it, became a legend while her mom was alive. At one point, her mom even brought the coat on a trip to Hawaii.
“It always seemed like way too much for the weather here, but she was always worried about places [being] too cold,” she says. “We used to joke she was often right.”
An aquatic feast and dip
For the last six years, Shannon Sweeney and her family have made it a ritual to travel to the coast for their Thanksgiving feast, which is chock full of oysters, lobsters, and nowadays, even poke.
“We weren't really all that interested in cooking a huge meal for a smaller group. … We usually go down a little bit earlier, get a table and bring our tablecloth, our oysters, our shucker. … Then if the weather is nice enough, we'll usually also bring wetsuits and then go for a swim.”
Sweeney says enjoying a holiday meal on the beach is a way to avoid the traditional Thanksgiving fare and celebrate mother nature.
“We're thankful for Southern California. We're thankful for our beaches and the beautiful ocean, and especially the beautiful weather we've been having on Thanksgiving,” she says.
“We're thankful for Southern California. We're thankful for our beaches and the beautiful ocean, and especially the beautiful weather we've been having on Thanksgiving,” says Shannon Sweeney, who celebrates Thanksgiving by eating seafood at the beach with her family. Photo courtesy of Shannon Sweeney.
Plus, seafood on the beach sidesteps much of the food waste that can accumulate during the holiday. “Getting an entire large turkey for the whole family was just starting to feel a bit wasteful, especially because we always end up with massive amounts of leftovers that we can never finish.”
She continues, “Instead of spending all that money on a huge turkey that we're not going to be able to eat, how about instead we just get a couple of lobsters [and] we get some oysters?”
The talk of the town
After a hearty Thanksgiving meal, Jess Brumana and their family dust off an old box filled with hats, and go on an annual walk through the neighborhood. The choices run the gamut — LA Dodgers caps, cowboy hats, and even one from The Cat in the Hat.
“The hat walk is a way to connect with each other without being so serious. You don't have to worry about family hierarchy — you still gotta respect your elders — but it's a lot easier to talk with people you don't see so often. Maybe you have a big generational gap, when you're both wearing stupid hats. … The hat walk is really just a simple way to walk off the calories, but also to connect [with] people you don't see more than two, three times a year.”
They add, “It's hard to gauge what people think of us when we're walking around with all those silly hats, but I like to think we’re the talk of the town.”