General Parts Group Celebrates Thanksgiving Traditions
November is a time to reflect on the blessings of another year almost over. We at General Parts Group are thankful for are our families, friends, many of which are our clients, and our relationships with all involved in the foodservice industry. We are also very thankful for our service technicians who are on call over Thanksgiving Day.
An important tradition for Thanksgiving is spending time with friends and family over a large meal. The celebration begins with Thanksgiving Day, but the preparation starts weeks in advance. Our General Parts Group team thought it fitting to highlight the traditions held during this season in one of our oldest locations – Milwaukee, as well as our newest location – Cleveland.
Thanksgiving in Milwaukee
In Milwaukee and literally all of Wisconsin the celebration begins weeks in advance with anticipation of seeing our family and friends and enjoying the traditional flavors of the season. The menu on that day is always turkey with all the trimmings. This includes mashed potatoes, favorite stuffing recipe, and the famous green bean casserole, carrots, corn, and rolls of some sort. Other specially prepared vegetable dishes change depending on how much cooking is needed. This would include squash, cornbread casserole, and some sweet potato dish. Wine is always served and only if you were old enough do you get a glass next to your plate. No meal begins until grace and what we were thankful for is said around the table. A toast is made to begin our celebration. After the clean-up, the desserts are served. Favorites are pumpkin pie but others included apple, chocolate pudding, prune, and squash pie. After dinner, if the Packers are playing; and even if they are not, a game is on. Others play scrabble, talk, and read the Black Friday ads because shopping and finding the deals is paramount in mapping their attack beginning at 0500 AM the next day. Deer hunting is on the mind of everyone. If you don’t hunt, you know someone who does and “Did you get your buck?” is often heard throughout the long weekend. It is funny though, most people that do hunt for deer never really care if they get one. It is more about being in the woods, spending time with family and making memories to last a lifetime, then returning home for a family meal.
Thanksgiving in Cleveland
Thanksgiving mornings in Cleveland usually involve half of the city waking up early to conquer the Turkey Trot 5K in downtown Cleveland. Runners dress up in all sorts of creative turkey costumes as they race Cleveland sports’ mascots. Other families may spend their mornings watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on their televisions. Nonetheless, while all of this is occurring, the turkey is cooking in the oven. Families usually start their dinners around 4 pm on Thanksgiving. The whole family gathers in the hosts home, bringing their favorite dish. After dinner, the men watch whatever football game is on, and the cousins all start decorating the Christmas tree. The after-Thanksgiving-dinner-nap never fails to show up too. Other families may spend their day at the Christmas Story home in downtown Cleveland, touring the rooms and observing the old movie artifacts, going tobogganing at the Cleveland Metro parks Chalet, or skiing and snowboarding at the Brandywine and Boston Mills parks. Once it is dark outside, people either gather at the known Hoag’s house in Strongsville or downtown Cleveland to watch the lighting ceremony. The Hoag’s house, aka the Crown Point Parkway Festival of Lights, is always known for its extravagant light display around the cul-de-sac as well as a visit from Santa. People gather from all over the city to observe the display on Thanksgiving. Downtown in Cleveland, there are classy displays of lighted trees on the streets and Playhouse Square. Afterward, many people enjoy the Christmas decorations in the penny arcade or the outdoor ice-skating activity. However, the night is not over as the local malls, Targets, and Walmarts open up around midnight for Black Friday shopping, and they are packed through the night full of people picking up sales. Overall, Thanksgiving in Cleveland is a fun time to bring in the Christmas season with family and friends – especially when the first snowfall comes on Thanksgiving!
General Parts Group Wishes Everyone A Happy Thanksgiving!
We love our families, our friends and we love food. We love traditions. We follow traditions of sound customer service, treating our customers as we want to be treated, and we strive to do what we say and we are what we do. General Parts Group is proud of these traditions which guide us is in Serving Those Who Feed the Nation®. Happy Thanksgiving!