My grandparents have 6 kids, 14 grandkids and 3 great grandkids. My dad is the oldest of the kids, I am the oldest of the grandkids and my son is the oldest of the great-grandkids. My grandparents also own two rollerskating rinks which are family owned and operated. At one point nearly everyone in the photo above has or will have worked, to run our family businesses, and it is something we take great pride in.
This is likely why our Thanksgiving celebrations are just a little bit different from everyone else’s. Sure we have the typical dinner, we definitely watch the football games, but we also absolutely have to skate. This is probably one of my favorite times of the year simply because it us just us, in our element, passing on this family tradition and raising our next generations in the rinks that we all love and value.
We start our little ones skating usually before they can fully walk. Once they can support their weight, we strap on the little zippy skates and start dragging them around and helping them learn their balance. They love it, skating is in their blood and there is something so natural and comfortable about being on skates for all of us. Fun fact: my great grandparents, my grandparents and my parents met at roller skating rinks. We are meant to be here, we are meant to do this, we are bonded by this and we love it. Even more though, we love each other.
Usually we get together around noon to start snacking, do a little skating and catch a little of the football games. Our snacking is always pretty easy. The HORMEL GATHERINGS® Party Trays are a huge hit and so easy for us to just put out for easy snacks and energy that we need to get our skate on. I mean clearly when we are working out and making silly skate worms like this we need all the energy.
I like the HORMEL GATHERINGS® Party Trays because not only are they easy, but they are tasty. A quick cracker with some cheese and meat is always a tasty bite and Hormel does it right! We love to enjoy our party trays while we are watching football, skating and catching up with each other before the big meal!