Holidays
These Vintage Thanksgiving Photos Will Give You All The Feels
And will also make you want to pose with a turkey.
Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday. My heart immediately seized when I typed that because Christmas! Halloween! Easter! but hear me out: Thanksgiving is full of all the traditions I love. The gravy boats shaped like turkeys and the sparkly pumpkin centerpieces and that giant roast turkey — but you know that when Thanksgiving is over, another holiday is coming, and it's like the middle anticipatory bite of a really good sandwich. There is still more to come, but this is the sweet, spot, and these vintage Thanksgiving photos prove that this feeling has always been there.
From suits at the dinner table on tiny little children to mothers posing with their beautiful roast turkeys, these vintage photos, ranging from the 1950s to current day, just exude family and gathering and good, warm feelings. At our own family Thanksgivings, I make sure there are tons of photos taken so one day — when they're considered vintage — my girls can pull them out and talk about how excited I look to be serving stuffing and cranberry sauce or how our kitchen looks so different than it did then. There is just something homey and cozy about these vintage Thanksgiving photos, and I'm thrilled to pull them together in the ultimate walk down memory lane.
1Thanksgiving Is Peak Grandparent Memories
Is there anything more perfect than the turkey Grandma pulls out of the oven? Everything about this 1950s photo of two grandparents showing off their Thanksgiving bird to their grandchildren is perfect.
2A Quintessential Norman Rockwell Moment
A father carving the turkey as his adoring family looks on is about as quintessential 1950s Thanksgiving as you can get. (My husband carves the turkey, but he cusses the whole time he does it.)
3Children Of The Cornucopia
I... I don't understand. This color photo from the 1960s looks... posed. Did we used to do this? Dress our children as puritans and have them pose in a pile of gourds? And if we did, then my goodness, why did we stop? I need this photo made with my own girls.
4A Vintage Thanksgiving Spread
Do you remember dark wood trim? And paneling? Truly, nothing feels darker than photos like this one from the 1980s, but I also love the red candle sticks and that polyester? wool? yellow vest? tunic? the patriarch of the family is sporting. (Also, plants are not a millennial thing, and this photo proves it.)
5When Turkeys Used To Wear Shoes
Did people used to make these? Was the point so the ends didn't get burned in the oven? But then, didn't the paper burn? I have so many questions about the little fringe booties we used to put on our roast turkeys, you guys.
6Well, This Seems Very Hygienic
Why let the children lay around playing games and reading books while you slave over dinner? In the 1950s, we apparently gave children a bowl of moist bread crumbs and a bird and said, "STUFF IT ALREADY." (That turkey absolutely tastes like strep throat.)
7Picture Perfect Children
The act of dressing little boys (and men) in suits for Thanksgiving dinner needs to come back, you guys. And a big glass of milk, and giant fall foliage in vases, and cherry tomatoes and lettuce surrounding our turkey. Let's please bring it all back.
8Now That's How You Baste A Turkey
Ah, that age-old fight between brining and basting a turkey is put to rest with this giant kettle in the 1940s. First of all, that turkey is enormous (I cook two of these for my entire family), and second of all, this woman is a genius. Why fuss with some plastic syringe thing with a giant bulb on the end when you can just use your kettle?
9Generations Of Thanksgiving
I love a sweet candid shot, and I love one of all the women in aprons, proudly showing off their turkey. The kid smiling slyly nearby is just perfect. (And can we bring back red candles?)
10The School Thanksgiving Lunch
Every person remembers dressing as a pilgrim and eating rolls and green beans at their elementary school lunch before getting out for Thanksgiving break, right? I can feel this photo, can practically taste the rolls and feel the hat on my head.
11The Turkey's Perspective
I am 100% obsessed with this turkey's perspective of the family praying as they wait for the skin to get extra crispy.
12The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
In 1959, this incredible "spaceman" balloon flew down the streets of New York City, and I just love it. I can't help but wonder if this was everyone getting amped up about NASA and the trip to the moon in just 10 years, and I love that it was a Thanksgiving moment.
13A Family Portrait
I just had an early Thanksgiving dinner with my family where I roasted a beautiful turkey, and I can not believe I didn't make my family pose with it like this.
14More Pie, Please
This is exactly what a Thanksgiving dessert table should look like, and I'm glad this is one tradition that's hung around.
15Good Eating, Mr. President!
This photo of President John F. Kennedy pardoning a turkey in 1962 is one of many iconic photos of presidents pardoning turkeys on Thanksgiving. It's such a wacky-sounding tradition, but golly, I love it.
16Tickle Me Elmo Mayhem
OK, so technically this isn't a Thanksgiving photo, but imagine Black Friday 1996 with all of these Tickle Me Elmos getting yanked off the shelves. It's not Thanksgiving until there's a deal somewhere.
17Three Generations
There are few things I love more than sharing holiday traditions with my girls — traditions I learned from my mom and grandparents — and this photo is just lovely.
18Gourds & Pumpkins Are Forever
Truly, I think this might be the exact tablescape I had, except my pumpkins were glittery and from Target. (Also, my kids looked this excited about the turkey, too.)
19Side Eye
Again with the suit and tie at the Thanksgiving table, I love it so much. Also the way this kid is side-eyeing the turkey makes me wonder if he was treated like my kids were as I prepped for Thanksgiving — "just eat a banana, I'm cooking, we'll eat real food LATER." He looks hungry.
20The Perfect Turkey
I love the oven in this photo, I love the roasting pan, I love the dress, and I love knowing that I'm now in this special group of women doing all the incredible behind-the-scenes work to make Thanksgiving such a joyful day.
