Thanksgiving is the perfect holiday. It comes right in between Halloween and Christmas, giving us an extra event to look forward to in between both of these highly marketed holidays. Instead of seeing it as a filler, Thanksgiving should be a cherished holiday on its own.
Ever since I was old enough to understand the concept of holidays, my maternal grandmother instilled in me the importance of Thanksgiving. It was so sacred to her that no matter what, every November we would travel to Illinois and spend the better part of a week with my mother’s family. And every year, I would feel most connected to my family and my roots when at the Thanksgiving dinner table.
During this time, my mother’s cousins always claimed me as their honorary little sister. As someone who grew up an only child surrounded by adults more than three decades older than me, time spent with relatives closer to my age was cherished.
That’s not to say I didn’t love the time spent around my older relatives, too. My maternal grandparents and I are extremely close as well, and being able to look forward to dedicated time spent with them made any challenges I faced over the course of the calendar year worth it. I could always rely on having a great time come the end of November.
However, the traditions didn’t stop at just the yearly visit. No, we have dedicated food and activities for Thanksgiving just like many other families.
My favorite dish in the world is the corn casserole that we make each Thanksgiving. Is it a family recipe? No, but what makes it special is not only how good it is, but the fact that I only ever get to have this dish at Thanksgiving. It makes the pan placed on the table that much more special knowing that it comes with all of this love and gratitude for my family.
After every Thanksgiving dinner, we gather together to play bingo as a family. There are prizes wrapped up in paper so that you can’t tell what any of the items are. We play rounds of bingo until everyone has won a prize, and then we all open them together to find out what silly knick-knack we received this year.
Following bingo, we all have dessert and sit around chatting about the most recent updates in our lives while watching whatever game happens to be on television. We all have busy lives, so having this holiday set aside where your family can come together, share good food and catch up is priceless.
Thanksgiving is a time when we can all reflect on our year and figure out how we want to spend the last month of it before we ring in a new year. As a country, we are forced to think about our past and how we could have and should have acted, while still having time in the future to change for the better.
On a personal level, though, we are encouraged to reflect on something that many forget on a daily basis: what we can be grateful for. The world is an increasingly negative place, and people tend to think more about what could be better than what is already good in their lives.
On Thanksgiving, we do exactly what the title of the holiday tells us to do: We give thanks for all we do have while spending time with the people we love.
Every year, I am thankful to hold my Christmas celebrations because it means I get to feast on the energy of my favorite holiday: Thanksgiving.
