Friendsgiving 1976

I saw, this afternoon, that "friendsgiving" is trending on Twitter.  This is, after all, the Saturday before the United States celebration of Thanksgiving.

It's interesting to see how a holiday evolves, because I was introduced to the concept when my spouse was in the military, back in the mid 1970's.  That's way before the TV show Friends, which some credit in making this unofficial holiday popular.  But Thanksgiving among friends is a lot older than the show Friends, and I know this from experience.

Although the term did not make it to the Merriam-Webster dictionary until 2020, military members have been doing this for years, without a name.

Think about it - young men and women hundreds or thousands of miles from home.  For some, it's their first Thanksgiving from home.  Many are single.  Travel home, for many, is out of the question.  Young military people do not make a lot of money.

So you turn to the people you are with - your fellow military people.  We decided to host a Thanksgiving at our one bedroom apartment for some of my spouse's buddies because my spouse loves to cook.  

We did the traditional Thanksgiving with one major exception - a non traditional pie, anyone?  Here is my blog post about the experience.

I don't remember asking for food contributions, but nowadays a lot of Friendsgivings involve potlucks.  And, although our Friendsgiving was on Thanksgiving Day, a lot of young people hold this the weekend before Thanksgiving.

As far as I'm concerned, Friendsgiving is, and will continue to develop, as a wonderful tradition.

That 1976 Friendsgiving  (what I remember of it) is a cherished memory of my youth.

Not everyone has a happy family life and would rather skip the drama.  Or, sometimes, people just want to hang out with friends. Or co-workers.

Or maybe my spouse and I were years ahead of our time.

 

Before you go, I wanted to share this Saturday Night skit (kind of PG-13) about Friendsgiving.  

Happy Friendsgiving - or Thanksgiving - to you.