Tradition - Making Sticky Buns for Thanksgiving

When Judy and I got married I was introduced to her family tradition of making "Sticky Buns" for Thanksgiving. This wonderful tradition starts the night before Thanksgiving and includes putting together these delicious cinnamon buns so the next morning you can eat them hot from the oven.

On Thanksgiving morning Hudson's Department Store ( now Macy's ) have their annual Thanksgiving parade in downtown Detroit. You make hot chocolate, bundle up the kids, ( it is always cold and snowy for the parade ) and drive downtown to sit at the curb on Woodward Ave. and watch all the parade floats go by in front of you. You yell and wave as each float comes rolling past you. High school bands play the first Christmas music of the season and you sing Jingle Bells with everyone else around you. It is always worth the wait out in the cold as Santa and his reindeer, always the last float, finally arrives and goes past you. You hurry home because you know the sticky buns are waiting to be put in the oven. The smell that spreads throughout the house as they come out of oven is amazing. You add a hunk of butter to the top of the hot sticky bun and wash it all down with a glass of cold milk.

As the years have gone by and the kids got too old for believing in Santa, and too cold for the parents to sit outside, we bake the sticky buns early and now watch the parade on TV. This is a tradition we will always continue.

Mark, Polly, Bella and Grace are going out of town for Thanksgiving and Polly did not want to miss out on the making ( and eating ) of the sticky buns. So we made them on Sunday with Deanna, Mark, Polly and the girls in Ortonville.

This year Bella took a greater interest in actually making the sticky buns. I showed her how to roll out the dough and add sugar and cinnamon and how to roll and cut the buns into pieces. She was amazing !!! A real natural at the art of making sticky buns.

We all helped in some manner by creating an assembly line of sticky buns. Melting butter, spreading sugar and cinnamon, arranging into pans. We made about 8 big pans of sticky buns for everyone to take home.

The pan we made for after dinner turned out to one of the best ever because it was made entirely by Isabella. She was so proud of what she did and so are we !!!

The day was topped off by Judy making a fantastic pot-roast dinner with carrots and potatoes. It was delicious.

This turned out to be a very special day for Judy and I. It seems rare that we get a whole day at home with Deanna, Mark , Polly and the girls. I hope it is a start of a new tradition because it meant so much to Judy and I.

Thanks Guys.......