Breaking Thanksgiving Traditions & Creating New Ones
It’s been along time since my entire family has been together to celebrate Thanksgiving. Like many families, we are scattered across the country in many different States. Every year I face the difficult decision of where to spend the holiday, and wonder which Thanksgiving traditions will be included or left out.
The past several years, I have traveled to Las Vegas where a portion of my family resides. Last year began with a car accident one hour into the trip. I was rear ended on the 101 Freeway. Thankfully, the car wasn’t horribly damaged and I was able to continue on. The usual six hour ride, however, had turned into a ten hour nightmare!
Still traumatized by the thought of driving in holiday traffic, I decided to stay in Santa Barbara this year. For the first time in my life, Thanksgiving would be spent at a restaurant!
I have one son that lives in Santa Barbara and he booked reservations for us at Harry’s Plaza Cafe. With promises of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, we arrived for an early afternoon meal.
We started with a drink in the bar… I ordered a Bloody Mary. Whoa! It was stiff! I actually had to ask for more tomato juice and ice!
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The walls of the restaurant are covered with vintage photographs of Santa Barbara. It’s pretty amazing!
Time to eat! Traditional dinner was served. The basics were all there… Lot’s missing, but hey I wasn’t at Mom and Dad’s now was I?
The food and service were great. We even got a piece of pumpkin pie, which we took home!
I can’t say I would never do this again, however if given the choice, I would choose the good old fashioned family dinner at home. There is nothing like a big Thanksgiving dinner surrounded by your entire family.
I am grateful my son and I were able to celebrate together at Harry’s… It may not have been the traditional Thanksgiving as we have known in the past, but this is how new traditions begin right?
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