Eating M&M’s until dinner time and having paper-airplane-making contests with the cousins. Football on the TV and no spaces left to sit on the couch. Stealing onion crisps off the green bean casserole and anxiously awaiting the day we could sit at the adult table. Chasing the cat upstairs and having to set up extra tables and chairs. Going back for seconds and feeling oh-so-grown-up drinking Martinelli’s out of plastic wine glasses! Never one turkey, always two – and the smoked one tastes better every single year.
Bet you can’t guess what my favorite holiday is! All these and more are some of my favorite memories from Thanksgivings past. I honestly can’t pinpoint just one “thing” that makes Thanksgiving my favorite holiday. It’s so different every year, but it’s also always the same…and I think that’s why I love it so much.
The first Thanksgiving – yeah, that one back in 1621 – was celebrated by the Pilgrims after their first successful harvest in the New World. However, there’s much debate nowadays about whether or not anything we know about the first Thanksgiving is true. The fact of the matter is this: we weren’t there. We don’t know if the Native American people were formally invited or not, we don’t know what exactly the pilgrims cooked up for their feast, and we don’t know the exact timeline of events as they occurred back then. So, what do we know?
We know that Thanksgiving is still alive and well today – and that most definitely means something. The purpose of Thanksgiving is to show gratitude and give thanks for beautiful and bountiful harvests. Today, these “harvests” don’t even have to involve food! I know, it’s a play on words, but there are so many little “harvests” that occur each and every day of your life. A good grade on a paper or test, making fun memories with your friends, enjoying your favorite foods – all things to be grateful for. Thanksgiving just provides us with a set day each year that we can use to count these blessings.
No matter how or where you celebrate it, there’s no wrong way to do Thanksgiving. My family, for example, switches up where we spend Thanksgiving every year. Sometimes it’s with my dad’s side of the family and sometimes with my mom’s side. There was also a year we spent Thanksgiving serving dinner to the homeless population of Detroit, Michigan – with NBA players from the Detroit Pistons basketball team. Another year, we didn’t book flights in time to go see family, so my sister’s best friend invited us over to her family’s Thanksgiving dinner. And one of my all-time favorite Thanksgivings was when my family spontaneously decided to drive to Chicago! The four of us wandered around the city in a literal blizzard until we got too cold and ran inside the nearest building, the JW Marriott hotel. Turns out they were serving Thanksgiving dinner upstairs, so we ended up just eating there. The food was so good, and the Black Friday shopping the next day on Michigan Avenue was even better! My family still raves about that random but special Thanksgiving trip to this day.
You get the gist; Thanksgivings can play out differently every year! I used to not be a big fan of that concept – mainly because I love traditions and sticking to them – but as I’ve grown up, I’ve learned to embrace my family’s spontaneity.
I’ve talked a lot about my favorite Turkey Day memories, now it’s time to think about your own! Maybe it’s not your absolute favorite holiday. Maybe seeing your extended family stresses you out, or maybe you have severe food allergies and can’t enjoy all the dishes you’d like to. I know, no holiday is perfect and there’s always so much that could go wrong. But remember this: Thanksgiving is a day to give thanks for the things that have gone right. Be thankful for the hard lessons you’ve learned this past year, give thanks for the family and/or friends you’re spending Thanksgiving with, and be grateful for all the things that make you, you! Make this Thanksgiving your designated day to show gratitude to yourself and to the people you love. It’s only once a year, so go enjoy your traditions, some good turkey, and enjoy giving thanks!