A Separate Thanksgiving
By Kennedy Olson
It is officially the week of thankfulness as thanksgiving rounds the corner, family and friends coming together to celebrate a wonderful year of blessings and to enjoy delicious
food. At a glance, everyone’s celebrations seem pretty one and done. Family comes together, food is cooked from morning till night and you enjoy each other's company until
the sun goes down. In my family it can be a little different than that though, having a separated family you would think of two things and double presents but it isn’t always so simple. It can also be a time full of chaos and figuring out all your plans. In my house, my mom packs up a bunch of presents for my cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles and we high-tail it to their house. The place is full of decorations and thanksgiving related outfits. Turkey is cooked from the beginning of the day, mashed potato and cheese casserole, a staple in our traditions. We sit at the table after dishing out buffet style and we pray. To end off the night we play any card game that the kids pick whether that be Skip-Bo, golf, old maid and more. Presents are a tradition for the grown-ups to play, everyone is given a money limit 20-40$ and they stick to a theme. Laughter can probably be heard from down the block as my family does not have a line you can cross when it comes to present humour. To make sure that the kids don’t feel left out they also get tiny little toys my mom packs before we head over.
My Dad’s celebrations are a little more laid back, we wake up and head over to my mama and papa’s house (grandparents). The house is not normally decorated, if it was Ithink we would all be a little worried for my grandma. Nobody dresses up but we make sure we are all comfortable enough to eat to our heart’s content with plenty to take home for the next few weeks. My mama spends all morning preparing foods she used to cook for us when we were kids and a ham to go along with our turkey. This is the only day that we get to eat those foods again as it takes way too much time to prepare for a normal day. When it comes to eating we all dish out after our grandparents and sit in the living room watching shows together. The Dessert is also homemade and takes up the entire dinner table. For someone who doesn't like sweets, I can say my Mama does it right and never fails to get me going to that table! What makes my dad's Thanksgiving special is that all of my family comes together when they are normally spread out all over Canada. The family I never get to see except for that day and even though there are no presents I'd say seeing them is enough for me to be thankful for.
Even though you may not celebrate in “traditional” ways, every way we celebrate is traditional in our own way. Embracing that is probably the most beautiful thing about Thanksgiving and something I will always be thankful for.
