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"Think Thanksgiving is just about turkey and football? Not to these seven women, whose favorite holiday customs may inspire you to celebrate in a whole new way. The Pies Have It Terry Golson, 53 Carlisle, Massachusetts  Terry Golson always enjoyed the intimate Thanksgivings she typically spent with her husband and their two sons, now 14 and 18. But deep down, she wanted to cook a big spread for a houseful of people. The problem? None of her relatives lived nearby, and her friends were with their families. &amp;quot;Eight years ago it hit me: Since pies are my favorite part of the holiday, I&amp;#039;d have a Sunday-After-Thanksgiving Pie Party,&amp;quot; she says. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s given us a way to create a nearby extended family for our boys. We relax, laugh and eat a ridiculous amount of pie.&amp;quot; Her only rule: Nobody can bring any. And no one needs to\u2014Terry makes enough for everyone (and then some). &amp;quot;Each adult ends up eating half a pie! So I bake accordingly.&amp;quot; For months leading up to the big day, Terry thumbs through magazines and cookbooks in search of new recipes. As guests arrive, the smells of sweet and savory pies fill the air: Butternut Squash and Pomegranate Galette, Orange Cr\u00E8me Br\u00FBl\u00E9e Pie, Onion and Olive Gruy\u00E8re Tart, and Brown Sugar Pear, to name a few. And the crowd favorite: Deep Dark Chocolate Pie. &amp;quot;I always have to make two of those!&amp;quot; she says. (For Terry&amp;#039;s easy lemon pie recipe, go to WomansDay.com/LemonPie.) Turkey Trot Anne Tiedt, 36 Austin, Texas  Every other year you&amp;#039;ll find Anne Tiedt and her friend Heather Bendes, 34, taking sips of water and stretching their calves on Thanksgiving morning. &amp;quot;Ready, set, go!&amp;quot; shouts the announcer minutes later, and Austin&amp;#039;s 5-mile Turkey Trot begins. For years Anne had wanted to run the race, but she never did. &amp;quot;I felt too guilty,&amp;quot; she says. &amp;quot;There were always so many other things to do on that day.&amp;quot; Heather knew her friend would never give herself permission to do it, so she decided to speak up. &amp;quot;Heather sat me down and reminded me that Thanksgiving wasn&amp;#039;t just for my family,&amp;quot; says Anne. &amp;quot;It was for me, too.&amp;quot; And if that meant finishing up holiday preparations early, so be it. Something clicked, and Anne agreed to run the race\u2014if Heather ran it with her. So in 2006, and every other year since, the two have crossed the finish line together. The best part for Anne? Spending quality time with her friend. &amp;quot;We don&amp;#039;t see each other all the time, so spending that morning together is special. We always seem to have deeply personal conversations during that run,&amp;quot; she says. Let the Games Begin Nancy Butler, 61 Waterford, Connecticut  &amp;quot;Bingo!&amp;quot; shouts 8-year-old Chase, as he runs up to collect his prize. Nana Bunny, 87, slaps her leg in frustration. &amp;quot;Darn it! Just one more and I would have won.&amp;quot; Nana Bunny takes the family&amp;#039;s annual Thanksgiving Bingo Tournament very seriously. It all started a few years ago, when Bunny&amp;#039;s granddaughter, Tammie, 45, told her mom, Nancy Butler, that the family had fallen into a Thanksgiving rut. &amp;quot;We&amp;#039;d fill up on turkey and call it a day,&amp;quot; says Tammie. She suggested a lively game of bingo and her mom agreed. Now, after the meal every year, boards are handed out and everyone takes part. &amp;quot;Sometimes Uncle Alan tries to slip into the living room to watch TV, but we always coax him back,&amp;quot; says Nancy with a laugh. Instead of calling numbers and letters, the grandkids reach into a basket and pull out pictures: &amp;quot;Turkey!&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Pumpkin!&amp;quot; The prizes? Scratch-off lottery tickets. &amp;quot;It would be great if someone won a million bucks, but that hasn&amp;#039;t happened,&amp;quot; says Nancy. &amp;quot;Not yet, anyway.&amp;quot; The More the Merrier Dara Lynn Laski, 43 West Hills, California  Think 20 guests for Thanksgiving is a lot? Try more than 2,000! That&amp;#039;s how many people Dara Lynn Laski feeds each year. She got the idea more than 20 years ago when she volunteered to serve Thanksgiving dinner to the needy. As she dished up food, Dara thought how nice it would be to give people a real sit-down dining experience, complete with tablecloths and centerpieces. &amp;quot;I wanted to give them a little dignity for the day,&amp;quot; she says. So in 1988, Dara asked a community center to donate space and local businesses to donate food and table linens. Two hundred people showed up for the feast and Dara&amp;#039;s parents, siblings and their families helped her serve. Word spread\u2014more people showed up the next year, and even more the next. &amp;quot;Today, the crowd is so big that we have to set up tables inside and outside,&amp;quot; says Dara. Every year the community pitches in to make sure there&amp;#039;s plenty of food, and Dara&amp;#039;s family, local businesses and grants cover all other expenses\u2014$10,000 in all. &amp;quot;Doing this as a family makes us even more grateful to have each other,&amp;quot; she says. And none of them miss spending Thanksgiving at home. On that special day, this is home. Decluttering for a Cause Julie Blunck, 34 Hyattsville, Maryland  While others can&amp;#039;t wait to bring home deals on Black Friday, Julie Blunck is the opposite: She can&amp;#039;t wait to clear stuff out. &amp;quot;About four years ago I looked around and realized that we weren&amp;#039;t using a lot of things in our house,&amp;quot; she says. Since it was Thanksgiving, Julie decided it was the perfect time to share the wealth. &amp;quot;I gathered whatever we didn&amp;#039;t need and gave it to charity.&amp;quot; Now decluttering on Thanksgiving day is an annual ritual. &amp;quot;It feels good to get rid of all that clutter, but it feels even better knowing that it&amp;#039;s helping other people who need it more.&amp;quot; The Blessings Cloth Gloria Stevens, 64 Kingman, Arizona  In 2007, as she prepped for the holiday dinner, Gloria Stevens pulled out her large tablecloth and shook her head in dismay. &amp;quot;It had ugly stains on it, and I needed a new one right away,&amp;quot; she says. An emergency trip to the store yielded a plain white sheet\u2014too plain for Gloria&amp;#039;s taste. Elbow-deep in stuffing, she asked her two oldest daughters to dress it up a bit. They drew a horn of plenty in the center, added decorative borders and the words A Stevens Family Thanksgiving. Gloria loved it. &amp;quot;I was so inspired by what they did that a lightbulb went off in my head,&amp;quot; she says. She sat a cup of markers on the table and asked her guests to add whatever they wanted to the cloth. &amp;quot;In the future, our family could look back at this cloth and remember.&amp;quot; The littlest kids drew turkey handprints, while the older folks expressed their many blessings. Every year since, Gloria has set the table with the blessings cloth, and family and friends have added to it. &amp;quot;With one look, we know what&amp;#039;s in our family&amp;#039;s hearts,&amp;quot; says Gloria. Words of Wisdom Carol Young, 72 Bronxville, New York  For the Young family, lively discussions about books are nothing new. So when Carol Young&amp;#039;s son-in-law, an English teacher, suggested they start a Thanksgiving book club in 2003, the idea was an instant hit. He sent everyone a copy of the book he&amp;#039;d chosen\u2014Young Men and Fire by Norman Maclean, a historical account of a 1949 fire that claimed the lives of 13 firefighters. &amp;quot;That Thanksgiving we talked about what makes people want to put their lives on the line like that,&amp;quot; says Carol. Since then they&amp;#039;ve read an eclectic mix of novels and nonfiction, with a different person leading the discussion each time. Carol loves how much it lets her stretch her mental muscles. &amp;quot;Usually at family gatherings you talk about things like what&amp;#039;s for dinner,&amp;quot; she says. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s wonderful to have a stimulating intellectual conversation, too.&amp;quot; Leslie Pepper is a freelance writer living in Merrick, New York. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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