Bob Greenberger

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November 26, 2004

Tradition!

We steep ourselves in tradition and barely notice it for the most part. Until the holidays and then we’re invoking tradition as the excuse for doing things, usually with a happy tone in our voices.

At DC, our longest standing tradition is celebrating Thanksgiving en masse. It started when we were a very small group, housed on barely half a floor at 666 5th Avenue. Everyone brought something, Jenette Kahn supplied the turkey and Paul Levitz saw to it we had make-your-own-sundaes for dessert. Then we grew and grew until finally our celebration took over the 8th floor of the Time-Life Building. Since so many people brought desserts, I saw to it we had side dishes and could be counted on for a sweet potato casserole (you know the one, with the marshmallows on top). That was my traditional contribution while Mike Carlin could be counted on for Pop Tarts and Archie Goodwin brought the sacks of White Castle (and after Archie passed away, the tradition was carried on by Mike McAvennie). It got to the point where we had tons of leftovers so my kids knew to expect at least Pop Tarts for breakfast Thanksgiving morning as they watched the parade on TV.

Ever since DC moved to 1700 Broadway, we’ve opened the doors fro staff, family and friends to crowd along the Broadway side to watch the parade. If you’re not going to watch it in your PJs at home, this is the best way to do it. The offices are warm, the bathrooms are clean and people bring goodies with lots of visiting going on. The parade passes us starting around 9:30 and between 11 and 11:30 it usually ends. We skipped it the last few years but Robbie really wanted to see it so we renewed the tradition and trooped in. Joining us for the viewing was Marco Palmieri, my former DC colleague and my current Star Trek editor along with his son, 7-year-old Jeremy. And Marco, kind soul that he is, brought a delicious apple pie to share, which we added to the breads, muffins and fruit we brought.

When Kate started talking about coming home for Thanksgiving, she insisted she would be home in time to make the pumpkin pie. This was her job and something she relished doing. And it was carried affectionately from Connecticut to Long Island where we happily were part of a happy—and relatively new tradition—Thanksgiving with Bob and Laurie Rozakis. They seem to like taking in strays. In addition to Bob’s two brothers and families, there’s his Mom, his step-Mom and then assorted others. This year, we had Chuck Rozakis’ long-time pal Dave (back after missing two years) and Kate brought Rachel, a dancing colleague from GWU who couldn’t make it back to Illinois. There were 19 of us since Dave’ sister Mai canceled out but swelled to 20 when Sammi Rozakis’ pal Carl turned up for dessert. And since her boy friend Jason couldn’t make it, he sent an ice cream cake.

(I should also note that in keeping with long-standing radio tradition, the minute the parade ends we hop in the car to head south, playing Arlo Guthrie's Alice's Restaurant either on CD or listening to one of several stations playing it exactly at 12, following the praade's conclusion. Said conclusion is also the signal in our house that the Christmas season is officially underway and holiday music may now be played.)

Part of the tradition includes Laurie making enough food for the 19 of us – presuming we were all staying for a week. This meant that despite bringing the pumpkin pie, veggies and a Moroccan bean dip, we wound up bringing home more than we started with. And to cap it off, knowing our drive home would be long (adding nearly 50% to the travel time), Laurie’s last tradition is seeing to it Robbie has a turnkey sandwich for the road.

There’s a lot to be said for these traditions, the repetition binding us together and creating memories. The traditions of the Uptons and the Greenbergers have melded into our family’s core values and traditions, which we see have already been imprinted on Kate and Robbie. It’s going to be interesting to see which routines are carried with them when they start their own families.

Posted by Bob Greenberger at November 26, 2004 12:30 PM

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Comments

Posted by: Michael A. Burstein at November 26, 2004 12:55 PM

Posted by: KRAD at November 26, 2004 01:05 PM