A Living Mostly Vintage Thanksgiving

After Halloween, many people immediately make the jump to Christmas. But I say, JUSTICE FOR THANKSGIVING! This holiday still gives us so much to look forward to. I’m blessed with a family I love spending time with, and I’ll always take an excuse to eat stuffing. Here are some movies and TV shows we watch on, and leading up to, Thanksgiving.

The Brady Bunch: The Un-Underground Movie

There are so manyThanksgiving episodes from various TV shows (Cheers, Ozzie and Harriet, That Girl…), but this one is my favorite (and also happens to be one of my favorite Brady Bunch episodes of all time). Greg enlists the family to help him create a film about the first Thanksgiving for a school project. Of course, chaos ensues, including a fight over who gets to be Priscilla, Bobby getting stuck in the stocks, and a fiasco with fake snow (made of corn flakes spray-painted white, with “a couple bags of mashed potato flakes”).

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

Whenever we sit down to plan our Thanksgiving menu and cranberry sauce comes up, my sister and I quote in unison, “where’s the cranberry sauce? Where’s the pumpkin pie?” It’s a well-known classic, but still worthy of mention, and still worth watching year after year after year.

This is America, Charlie Brown: The Mayflower Voyagers

The first time I saw this, I was traumatized by the man falling overboard, and it was several years before I gave it another chance. (When it comes to movies and TV, I can really hold a grudge!) It’s become my favorite thing to watch during this season, and my sister and I quote it year-round.

Fun fact: Darrell Rooney, one of the production designers, is also a wonderful contributor to the Old Hollywood community. He’s co-writer of the book Harlow in Hollywood, and you can follow his Instagram account @jean_harlow_essential.

M*A*S*H: The Yalu Brick Road

A recent addition to our Thanksgiving lineup! Whenever my sister comes home, we put together a shared document of things we want to watch in the weeks leading up to her arrival. One of her requests on our latest list is “an appropriately themed M*A*S*H.” (*wipes tears from my eyes* I’m so proud!) Of course, this episode fits the bill perfectly.

Miracle on 34th Street

Our family doesn’t watch this one until Christmas, but since I don’t know how many “Thanksgiving movies” are out there, I’m including it in this list! My sister pointed out that it qualifies because it opens with the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. This is perfect, as I now have an excuse to watch it twice. (You may see Miracle show up again here soon once the Christmas season gets underway… 👀)

Since the next time I post in here will be after Turkey Day, I'm sending my good wishes to y'all now! Have a lovely time with your families, and eat some extra mashed potatoes with gravy for me.

'Till next week,

Becca