With Thanksgiving coming up, a few of the girls from Her Campus PhilaU and our sister chapter at Drexel University have put together a list of their favorite Thanksgiving traditions, from food to watching the parade, and just enjoying time spent with family and friends. We hope you enjoy, and wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! – XOXO – HC PhilaU & HC Drexel
As we all know, food is an important part of any holiday, and Thanksgiving is no exception!
“One of my favorite foods is served on Thanksgivings. I mean, I’m sure everyone says that. But it’s not what you might think. It’s not the deep fried turkey, or potatoes chips made in the deep frier, or even my grandmother’s cannolis. No, in fact it’s matchstick carrots stuffed inside black olives. Weird, I know. But for some reason when people talk about Thanksgiving, this what I think of, the countless times, my cousins and I snuck them off the table before dinner was ready, and got in trouble.” – Jacqueline, Sophomore at Philadelphia University
“My favorite Thanksgiving tradition isn’t really a tradition, but it almost always happens. No matter how hard we try to properly plan out cooking times, the turkey never ever gets to the table at the time we said it would. However, it is always delicious!” Lindsey, Senior at Drexel University, 22
…And of course it wouldn’t really be Thanksgiving without the Macy’s Parade….
My family’s Thanksgiving usually starts with my mom, dad and brother waking up early to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. The rest of the day consists of watching football, games and of course, Thanksgiving dinner. For us, it’s a day to disconnect from the world and focus on each other. Carly, Junior at Philadelphia University, 20
“My family’s thanksgiving dinner is pretty typical. We have turkey with mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce- the works! However, our family’s Thanksgiving wouldn’t be ours without watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV in the morning. I aspire to someday walk in the parade holding the strings of Snoopy as he towers over 6th Avenue. Also, my family always spends the day after Thanksgiving at McCurdy’s Tree Farm in Dillsburg, PA, where we pile onto a tractor, head out into the abyss of grown Christmas trees, and chop down the best one. It’s a yearly tradition and a perfect transition to get into the Christmas spirit.” – Abbey, Sophomore at Philadelphia University, 19
But in the end, I think we all can agree that what really makes Thanksgiving special is the people we share it with!
“My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is making pumpkin bread with my cousins.” Ivy, Freshman at Drexel University, 18
“My family used to drive seven hours to my grandma’s house on Thanksgiving Day, so we’d skip the fancy meal and stop at Cracker Barrel on the way instead! Even though my grandma lives with us now, we still keep up the tradition and go out to eat. It’s all the family bonding without the stress of cooking and cleaning up the meal ourselves.” Liz, Sophomore at Drexel University, 19
“My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is cutting coupons for Black Friday! Every year after dinner my mom, my grandmother and I would sit around the dining room table to drink tea and cut coupons while the rest of my family watched football. Now my mom and I carry on that tradition, and it’s nice because we get to just sit and be thankful for each other’s company without putting on an act for anyone else.” Renee, Senior at Drexel University, 20
“My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is hanging out in the kitchen with my mom while she bakes the pies, then swiping spoonfuls of the pie filling when I think she isn’t looking. She always jokingly chastises me and then we have a good laugh, but it brings back some nostalgia from when my biggest worry was whether or not she’d catch me stealing pumpkin pie filling.” Jenna, Pre-Junior at Drexel University, 20