This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Case chapter.
1. Family Thanksgiving
You’ve been away from home for roughly three months and have lost a significant amount of hair due to stress and unhealthy eating habits you developed while on campus. Returning home for Thanksgiving is a blessing: everyone gets to catch up and nobody is at anyone’s throat. Your parents are happy to have you back, your siblings are excited to hear stories, and you get to hang out with the family afterwords and watch TV like you’re a kid again. There really is no place like home.
2. Roommate/Best friend Thanksgiving
You and your roommate are close so his or her family extends a genuine invite to spend Thanksgiving with them and you humbly accept. Being able to meet the family of someone who is practically your brother/sister is exciting, stories are shared, and similarities are found. Hey, you may or may not feel a special connection with their sibling/future spouse.
3. Significant other Thanksgiving
Whether or not you end up going out with your roommate’s sibling, this Thanksgiving is always an exciting one. You’re no longer the “friend from school” who makes a couple of cameo appearances in stories. Instead, you are the name on the phone with a heart emoji next to it and the one who your partner never shuts up about, constantly building you up on the grandest of proverbial pedestals. No pressure. Just remember to laugh at the jokes, but don’t laugh too much. Be sure to remember table manners but don’t seem too formal. Keep your answers long enough to be interesting but short enough to prevent boredom, and smile through any awkward situations that arise and you’ll be fine.
4. Family Thanksgiving
Yes, I know the first one had the same title. But this one is different, I swear. After spending the last two Thanksgivings away from home and as you near the halfway point of your final year of college, you realize that in the future, your opportunities to go home during this time of year may not be as easy as this. So with an eager heart, you travel back home to feast with your family. Your parents are graying and have tons of new hobbies now that you and your siblings are out the door, your youngest siblings are sharing their college experiences with the family as you once did, and a calm, comforting, nostalgic atmosphere keeps you cozy in the crisp, chili, autumn…unless you live in California or down south, in which case, get lost.