25 Forgotten Thanksgiving Traditions Every American Family Did In 1958

It was still dark when the percolator started knocking on the stove, and the bird was already in the oven before anyone in the house had opened their eyes. That was Thanksgiving in 1958, and if you lived it, you remember the shape of the whole day before you remember any single thing about it. This is a walk back through twenty-five things nearly every American family did that year and quietly stopped doing since. The good china that came down off the high shelf exactly twice a year. The Macy's parade in black and white, with the balloons carried along on cranes because of a helium shortage. The Detroit Lions on the same small screen in the afternoon. The molded lime gelatin salad standing in the middle of the table. The cranberry log sliding out of the Ocean Spray can with the ridges still on it. The green bean casserole that was only three years old back then. The long distance call passed hand to hand around the kitchen because it cost too much to last. Grace before a single fork moved. The man of the house carving while everyone watched. And the folding card table by the wall, where the children sat and waited for the year a chair finally opened up at the grown-up table across the room. You were too young then to know it would not last forever. For a few minutes here, you are back at that table again.