Luke Burbank's tips for enjoying Thanksgiving

A year after COVID canceled many family gatherings, the holiday is back, and the "Sunday Morning" commentator has some do's and don'ts about getting the most from your family's feast.

Thanksgiving is, without a doubt, my favorite holiday. Always has been.

When I was little, I loved sitting at the kids' table. We'd fill our glasses with sparkling apple juice, 'Cheers' the other kids, and pretend we were drinking beer. Things would get wild.

Come to think of it, this is pretty much still how I like to celebrate Thanksgiving, except now I'm at the grownups' table.

I come from a big family, seven kids in all, and each year, no matter where we are all living, or how busy we are, we all make a point to gather together at my parents' house outside of Seattle to reconnect. That is, we always did, until last year ...

This year, thankfully, things are looking up. Thanksgiving's back, baby!

But also, um, how does Thanksgiving work again?

In case you've also gotten rusty due to that year off, here are some do's and don'ts:

DO make sure you cook your food thoroughly. Back in the 1980s, when I was a kid, a massive wind storm knocked out all the power out in Seattle on Thanksgiving, forcing people to pull their turkeys out of the oven midway through and just "call it good." Well, let me tell you, it was not good ... not good at all.

DON'T peak too early when it comes to your feasting. I've had more than one Thanksgiving meal dampened because I couldn't wait for dinner, and ate three entire bowls of black olives, by myself. Also, I drank the olive juice, which was a mistake. 

DO get outside at some point in the day, if your body allows for it. There's nothing like getting the ol' blood flowing to work up a proper appetite. About 10 years ago I started something called "The Burbank Family Fun Run," an early morning jog that the whole family agrees is their least favorite part of Thanksgiving. I know this because they tell me, repeatedly.

And finally:

DON'T be surprised if at some point in the day, you feel the desire to legally emancipate yourself from these people you love so much. Whether it's that uncle whose looked at one too many Facebook posts and thinks he knows "what's really going on," or a sibling still nursing a grudge that goes back to the Nixon administration, families can be … a lot. And cramming yourself into a room with them, to gather around a large bird you just cooked, can be stressful and challenging.

But for those of us lucky enough to have family to gather with this year, it sure beats the alternative. 

     
For more info:

• Follow @lukeburbank on Twitter

     
Story produced by Young Kim. Editor: Steven Tyler.