The holidays are rapidly approaching and with the festivities come our favorite traditions. Whether you bake a special pie with your mom, play games or meet up with high school friends, we all have certain warm and fuzzy things we look forward to doing each year. However, sometimes traditions start to feel forced. We feel like we have to do them because of tradition.

Upon starting a family, I knew I wanted to create new traditions which would ultimately mean breaking some old ones. I have a ton of traditions come Christmas time. We always take a road trip to Kansas City and go to my aunt’s house for a white elephant gift exchange. I look forward to this each year (especially the part on the road where we stop at Taco Bell followed by Pizza Hut!). When I think about these times, I get instantly excited.

Why it's okay to break holiday traditions.

However, the same doesn’t ring true for Thanksgiving. I was born on Thanksgiving Day (my mom went into labor at dinner – sorry mom, at least you got your biggest blessing ever, right?!) and the holiday has mostly revolved around my birthday. It’s never been an occasion where we gather extended family together and we usually keep it simple. In the past, it has always been my immediate family and now that I have a significant other and Zelda, it has grown a little. We also usually open our home up to any of our friends who don’t have a place to go.

A baby's first Thanksgiving.

I was chatting with my mom the other day and she was already getting stressed out about spending eight hours in the kitchen. I starting thinking, “Why? Why does it have to be this stressful thing?” The answer was it doesn’t, so we decided it was time to make a change. The consensus was we didn’t want to go out to dinner because we wanted to lounge around in our sweatpants and have fun at home.

As we talked, the light bulb came on – we should have Thanksgiving catered! I know many of you are probably gasping and if you enjoy being in the kitchen all day, you can ignore this post all together. However, if you don’t enjoy spending Thanksgiving Day in the kitchen, why not support this genius option of having it catered? We get to enjoy a delicious meal without cooking!

Real Urban BBQ Thanksgiving traditions.

This year, we are officially having Thanksgiving catered by Real Urban BBQ! We looked at a ton of options and decided this was the best fit for us. They have rave reviews and offer a preset meal that can be ordered with a ton of add-ons. Anything you can imagine for Thanksgiving dinner, they can do!

Real Urban BBQ Thanksgiving sides.

The Thanksgiving Day package includes one whole fresh hickory smoked Amish turkey, Brussels sprouts (other options include creamed spinach and mixed grilled veggies), Yukon gold mashed potatoes, dinner salad with an assortment of dressings, homemade buttermilk biscuits with honey butter and pumpkin pie (or apple or pecan). We decided to really go for it and add on traditional stuffing, golden corn bake, Fuji apples, mac and cheese and peach cobbler too!

How to set a Thanksgiving table.

I am so excited for our family bonding day without the stress of the meal. We are planning on setting up our Christmas décor, playing games and enjoying each other’s company. Be sure to follow along on my Instastory! I am picking up our meal the morning of Thanksgiving and will be showcasing the epic tablescape we are creating. We’re putting a lot more effort into this year since we won’t be cooking all day in the kitchen!

Food photos by Marcin Cymmer Photography