Today and tomorrow, cooks across northeastern Oklahoma are striving to get the perfect family feast together for Thanksgiving.

Most, of course, will have a turkey, either carved at the table or brought in pieces, as the centerpiece, and quite a few also will cook a ham.

But many families also have traditions handed down for generations. And it wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without them.

“We have four generations coming,” said Alice Allen, who lives between Peggs and Locust Grove. “They’re coming in from Tonkawa, from around this area. We’ll have from 4-1/2 months old to 71.”

Allen was looking for just the right turkey Monday at Reasor’s. She wanted one large enough to serve everyone, with some left over.

While the turkey will have the place of honor, a traditional family dish ranks close in the family’s affections.

“I have a Syrian salad that’s been passed down through the years, passed down through my mother. I’m looking forward to it,” she said.

She doesn’t have to do all the cooking. Like many Thanksgivings, the Allens’ meal will be a cooperative family effort.

“My favorite words are, ‘I’m not the cook, Kim does the cooking,’” she said.

Kim is her daughter from Tonkawa.

“My daughter-in-law, Rachel Allen, does the pies and sweet potatoes, and my daughter Kim does the casseroles and oversees everything,” Allen said.

She expects to spend a day cooking the turkey and doing other preparations at home.

The Allen family specializes in traditional home cooking, she said. She noted some people travel to the Amish restaurant in Chouteau in search of that sort of food, but they don’t need to.

“That’s just an everyday dinner for us,” she said.

However, Thanksgiving is more than an everyday event or meal.

“This is for our family to get together and enjoy each other,” she said.

Some cooks, having spent years doing the bulk of the work at Thanksgiving, are glad to see that responsibility pass on to the next generation — and even happier to be included in the feast and still able to enjoy it.

“It’s just about the last three or four years that I haven’t had the gang in my house,” Annabelle Wisdom said.

For 25 or 30 years, her house was the focus of holiday gatherings. She’ll spend this Thanksgiving with her son and daughter-in-law, Larry and Kathy Hahn.

Wisdom has five children, 18 grandchildren, and quite a few great- and great-great-grandchildren. This year, about 15 of them with gather at the Hahn home.

That doesn’t mean Wisdom will be idle.

“For this, I’m going to fix a seven-layer salad,” she said. That’s a far cry from when she was responsible for the entire dinner.

“I’d probably do the salads the day before, and then just get up and finish the rest of it on Thanksgiving day,” she said. “I worked [outside the home] as well, and I just sandwiched it in. I enjoyed it. I really missed not doing it. But I just can’t do it any more.”

Kathy Hahn is hoping for a nice gathering.

“The kids, grandkids, both mothers will be there,” she said.

She’s spending Wednesday and Thursday preparing the feast.

Of course, they’ll have a turkey. But that’s not what she’s looking forward to the most.

“You can’t have turkey without the dressing,” she said. “I don’t put it in the turkey. We usually get turkey breasts.”

Her dressing is a family tradition.

“My mom passed it along, and we’ll all enjoy it,” she said.

Marge and Jim Malone will host a traditional family Thanksgiving at their home, which already is decorated with a bounty of Christmas regalia. The grandchildren delight in playing the with animated holiday figures while they await Thanksgiving dinner, and while the grownups visit after the meal.

“We’ll have all the family, including my 90-year-old dad,” Marge Malone said.

They’ll come from Texas, Tulsa, Nowata, South Coffeyville and Muskogee.

Earlier this month, Malone already had her strategy in place for the meal.

“I’m going to make a dressing ahead of time and freeze it,” she said. “My cousin and Jim’s sister usually bring the pies. With the bazaar at St. Basil’s, the pumpkin cobbler has become a favorite, so I’m going to make it ahead of time.”

Like the other families, the Malones have their special tradition.

“My grandmother always made homemade noodles. She passed that along to my mother, who passed that along to me. So I always make two pots of noodles,” she said.

While the Malones always have done a lot of preparation for Christmas, and obviously love the holiday, Thanksgiving holds a special place in Marge’s heart.

“I like Thanksgiving the best because it’s all about family and food. The fellowship is awesome,” she said.