Thanksgiving is celebrated every year on the fourth Thursday in November. On this day, everyone gathers with family or friends and celebrates their own special traditions. Here are the family traditions of the Nelson Capital team:

Darcy: Thanksgiving at the Smoot household is delightfully chaotic. We usually host family and friends—the more the merrier, as we love a crowded table! Our office typically closes early on the day before Thanksgiving, which allows time to brine the turkey and make the pies: pumpkin, pecan, and apple. Both of my daughters, ages 5 and 3, love to help roll out the pie dough, and if we have enough left over, we make “pie dough cookies” with butter, cinnamon and sugar. On Thanksgiving morning, I like to get up early to prep the vegetables, cut bread cubes for the stuffing, and simmer the cranberries. This year, we will smoke the turkey on an electric smoker. Dinner typically starts around 4pm, so that we can all have a nice early bedtime. We recently adopted a tradition from a close friend of mine, “Gratitudes.” We each go around the table and say one thing we are thankful for. It could be a gratitude for family or friends or health, or it could be something simple, like “I’m grateful for pie dough cookies.” We have adopted this practice for daily dinners, but it will be particularly appropriate for Thanksgiving dinner.

Marissa: My family tradition around Thanksgiving is board games. We are all very different people and there’s nothing quite like watching your aunt who is a layman nun (certified Catholic nun who does not live in a convent) get flustered over a game of Cards Against Humanity.  We are also a bunch of book nerds who love etymology so Scrabble is in high rotation, I won last year. 😊

Donald: As a kid, during breakfast, my family and I routinely watched the “Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade” to see how elaborate the floats were each year. My father used every opportunity to remind us of how fortunate we were. So after our thanksgiving dinner, to work off the tryptophan effects of the turkey, we would volunteer at a local homeless shelter. Whether we were handing out dinners or helping to stock the shelves, it gave us an opportunity to give back as a family.

Tiffany: Thanksgiving for our family is a time to reflect on what we are most thankful for. There are so many things to be grateful for big or small every day. On thanksgiving we go around the dinner table and each say one thing we are most thankful or grateful for. After dinner concludes, we then bring out our competitive spirits and have a ping pong tournament to see who will be the next ping pong champ for the year.

Kelly: We go to Tahoe every year and we cook a big meal for family, friends and neighbors.  Before we eat, we go out and cut a Christmas tree down in our backyard.

Chrissy: My family gathers on thanksgiving for a delicious home-cooked meal. Each person makes a dish to share, and my specialties are dinner rolls, creamed spinach and oatmeal pie. As my family has become more scattered across California, it makes it that much more special to spend this time together.

Steve: Our Thanksgiving Day starts with a morning hike with our kids and our dog Charlie. We then return home and help with food preparation while watching football. Before dinner, everyone writes down one thing they are grateful for on a piece of paper and puts it into a box. After dinner, everyone takes a piece of paper from the box and tries to guess who wrote the note.

Evan: I married into one of those families that runs 5ks on the holidays. An early morning run in the winter can be challenging, but it makes the all-day eating fest that ensues right after much more enjoyable. I come from a family of chefs and have been working on perfecting a turkey on the BBQ. In my book, it wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without pecan pie!

Individual investment positions detailed in this post should not be construed as a recommendation to purchase or sell the security. Past performance is not necessarily a guide to future performance. There are risks involved in investing, including possible loss of principal. This information is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute a recommendation for any investment strategy, security or product described herein. Employees and/or owners of Nelson Capital Management, LLC may have a position securities mentioned in this post. Please contact us for a complete list of portfolio holdings. For additional information please contact us at 650-322-4000.