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Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, which is not a very popular answer. When people ask, “What is your favorite holiday?” you get very typical responses like Christmas or Halloween. Thanksgiving is an underrated holiday. Yes, there is a negative association with Thanksgiving and why we have this holiday, but it has also turned into a holiday where people get to spend time with family and friends, and be thankful for what they have. One thing I love about Thanksgiving is my family’s traditions.Â
In my family, we have a very chill Thanksgiving. We don’t usually travel anywhere for Thanksgiving, and we don’t really have family come to us for Thanksgiving, so it is just my parents and my sister. I personally love the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade and will sit and watch it with my mom. I will sometimes make a sweet treat for breakfast. I normally make cinnamon rolls, or I find a new recipe to try. As it gets closer to lunch time, instead of making a big lunch, we make appetizers for lunch; which usually contains some dips, vegetables, chips, fruit, a charcuterie board, or I will try to make a new dish. This food is perfect for watching football, and so that we wouldn’t get too full for dinner, which is our Thanksgiving dinner. During this time, we start prepping food for dinner. My dad will prep the turkey, while my mom and I prep the side food. We take Thanksgiving food very seriously in my house. We usually have a side dish that is everyone’s favorite, which for my sister, is rolls. If you looked at my sister’s plate, you would see a few pieces of turkey, particularly the dark meat, and about three rolls and stuffing. The rest of my family has a fuller plate than her with all of the side dishes and turkey.Â
After dinner, we all try to help clean up all of the leftover food and start doing the dishes. On any of the holidays in my house, we use the nice china that my grandparents gave my parents. This means we have to hand-wash all of the dishes, and we have to be very careful with them. I am a little bit on the clumsy side, so I am watched very closely by my parents when I am handling the china. After we are all stuffed to the brim with food, we usually all relax on the couch and watch a movie or football. We usually try to watch A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving because I love the Charlie Brown movies and watch them for any holiday they have a movie for. After the food settles for a little while, I am usually the first person to dive into the desserts. I try to make some kind of apple dish because I don’t like pumpkin stuff. Normally, it is an apple crisp dish or some kind of apple pizza dish.Â
The next day, we don’t usually go Black Friday shopping in person because the mall in my hometown is not very great, but we have created a new tradition of going to see a movie on Black Friday. This year, we are seeing the new Wicked movie, and I am very excited to see it.
Thanksgiving is my favorite time of the year because I get to spend time with my family, and I get to be thankful for what I have in my life. I also love that it is a little break from school right before finals.Â