As Thanksgiving break quickly approaches I think of all the homework, tests and projects I have to get done before the holiday arrives. But more than that, I look forward to the family traditions that make up my favorite holiday.
We all have those holidays we wait for the whole year. We wait for that time when we get to enjoy traditions with the people we care about most.
This holiday that brings me such joy is spent with lots of family. We gather together as most families do to eat wonderful home-cooked food, share stories from the past year and play games.
My family does stocking stuffers every year, for which we all have a paper grocery bag that we decorate with our names. We then fill each other’s bags with little gifts. Most people think of stocking stuffers as a Christmas thing, but since we get together only for Thanksgiving we give little gifts. In a way, we combine the two holidays for one big celebration. It’s not much, but it is fun and it is a tradition.
One of my favorite things is to listen to my dad and his siblings tell stories from when they were little. I love to hear about all the crazy things they did growing up. One story they tell is about my dad getting left at a store. They had gone to Gibsons, which was kind of like Wal-Mart. My dad is one of seven kids, and when they were leaving they must have miscounted because my 5-year-old father was left at the store. When they got home they received a call from the store asking if they were missing a kid. They then of course rushed back to the store to retrieve their forgotten child.
The morning after Thanksgiving we wake up early and some people go hunting for game while others go hunting for the Black Friday sales.
Those of us who shop have a plan before we go. We search the catalogs for the things we want so that when we get to the stores we can divide and conquer. I have tall cousins who can see over the masses of people to scope out the things we are looking for. We have found that the most efficient way to conquer the sales is to evenly divide short people with tall people. This gives the short people eyes over the crowd and someone to reach over other people when necessary.
These are just a few of the things that make Thanksgiving what it is to me. Mostly I just enjoy spending time with family I rarely see outside of our Thanksgiving festivities.
Be it Thanksgiving or any other holiday, we each have our favorite and reasons that make it our favorite. Whether it be family, friends, traditions or a combination of the three, we have a holiday that means something to us and will always have a special place in our hearts.
