Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is a time when families all across America come together to, well, give thanks! My Thanksgivings are pretty much all the same, and I wouldn’t want it any other way. Since we always have our family over at our house for Thanksgiving, a little preparation is need. After a week of cleaning (although this year I wasn’t home to help with that), the big day is finally here. I wake up at an hour that is earlier than what I’m used to, go for a quick run, and take a shower. Then the real fun begins. My mom and I turn on the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade and get to work. Chatting all the while makes the cooking, cleaning, and setting of the table go faster. I never find it hard to hold a conversation with my mom, but on Thanksgiving it is especially easy. As my mom preps the turkey to make stuffing and get that bird into the oven, I set the table. Once those two items can be checked off the list, my grandma arrives and we all sit down to watch some of the parade, since one of my mom’s favorite parts about Thanksgiving are the balloons in the parade. After I’ve had my share of watching balloons fly on by, I begin to make the guacamole, so once my family arrives at half time of the Packer game, we are ready with snacks. For some reason, the recipe my mom has for guacamole is everyone’s favorite, and my cousins insist it wouldn’t be a Stillman family get-together if Nancy’s guacamole weren’t there. When the rest of my family finally arrives, the real celebration can begin.

You can hear the kids in our backyard from miles away. With soccer, basketball, baseball, Frisbee, and hula hooping all happening at the same time, you know it’s a good time. After all, we need to work up an appetite for our thanksgiving feast! When mealtime has finally arrived, after a week of preparation, we all take a big sigh, and breath in the wonderful smells that engulf our senses. Fall. Turkey. Leaves. Buttery mashed potatoes. Stuffing. Candles. Cranberries. Pumpkin pie. Everything that embodies a deliciously delightful atmosphere can be sensed. It is at this point where my dad takes out his three-page sermon he has prepared – the schoolteacher inside of him has him do this each and every year. Instead of sighs, my sister and I let out groans (jokingly, course), but dad commences anyways. When this ritual is finally complete, we can begin eating. As I look around at my family, I remember why I should thank god every day. It is sad that it takes a holiday to make me remember how fortunate I am to be living my life. I have a wonderful, crazy family who I adore, loving parents who always support me, I love my hometown, and Lehigh University is the only place I want to be during the school year. I guess, then, I should be thankful for Thanksgiving, since it allows me the chance to thank god for giving me all these wonderful pieces of my life.