TVSquad

Television and turkey go hand-in-hand over the Thanksgiving holiday. Without television, we'd have to spend the entire weekend talking to our visiting family members! Okay, I realize the point of Thanksgiving is for family but everyone needs a break now and then. Thanksgiving provides lots of very different opportunities to escape the family by watching television. Hell, the television-watching can even be a family event! So, which programs do you watch on (or around) Thanksgiving? Here is my list of the five Thanksgiving traditions on television that ring in the holiday season:

5. Victoria's Secret Fashion Show My male friends insist this program was an instant tradition the second it hit the air in 2001 and I would be remiss if I didn't include it. I grudgingly agreed. Of course, I know it's not about the lingerie. It's about the supermodels' butts and boobs. This year, CBS pushed the special back to Dec. 6th but I'm still including it on my list since it used to coincide with Thanksgiving.

4. Good Eats: Romancing the Bird This one may seem a little odd, but in our house, it's a tradition. Several days before Thanksgiving, my all-time favorite cooking show host, Alton Brown, shows the best way to roast a turkey and make cornbread stuffing that actually isn't stuffed in the bird. We watch it every year to remind ourselves how he brines the bird and we brush up on his tricks for roasting it so the skin gets crunchy but the breast doesn't dry out. It's truly the best way to cook a bird, and ever since we first learned about his technique four years ago, we've hosted Thanksgiving at our house. Here is a link to the recipe, but let me warn you that once you make this bird for friends and family, you will be asked to host Thanksgiving for the rest of your life.

3. Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade As I have grown older, this parade has become virtually unwatchable. However, I still turn it on as background noise in the morning when the food is being prepared and the football games haven't started. I enjoy the high school bands and giant helium balloons, but the lip syncing and Katie Couric I could do without. I do come out to watch as Santa makes his appearance at the end of the parade. What can I say? That big, fat guy makes me crave pumpkin pie.

2. Football How else are a dozen people going to pass the entire day while they wait for food? Nothing is open on Thanksgiving, so we sit and watch football. There's just something comforting about the sounds of whistles blowing and men hollering at the television all afternoon. I always feel a little bit bad for the football players who, no doubt, had to get up early on Thanksgiving. They don't get to sit in front of the television and stuff themselves like the rest of us.

1. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Maybe it's the tryptophan talking, but I think this is the best of all the Charlie Brown holiday specials. Like many hosts on Thanksgiving, Charlie Brown gets overwhelmed when people start inviting themselves over. But, Snoopy comes to the rescue by preparing popcorn, jelly beans and toast (which he juggles as he butters) and then all the guests complain about the non-traditional meal. Of course, they all end up getting invited to Charlie's grandma's house for a real meal. There's nothing like a jumbled version of Over the River and Through the Woods sung by the Peanuts gang to get me in the mood for the holiday season.