By Ava C. Green, Features Editor
Thanksgiving has come and gone, and being home for this holiday gave me time to finally lock in my answer for when people ask, “What are you thankful for?” My answer is family.
Many people use Thanksgiving to focus on traditions through stories of the Mayflower, harvests and honoring Native American culture. And as lovely and wonderful as I truly believe that is, to me, Thanksgiving is all about food and family! So when my family gets together it's all about us — a very fun subject.
The most glaring reason to be thankful for my family around this time is how we celebrate. I have a pretty big family when you include aunts, uncles, cousins, spouses and babies. All that being said, we’re able to get together quite often — which I’m also very thankful for. That means that to make Thanksgiving stand out, it has to be our Olympics. There were about 35 people in my house and enough food to feed a small country. I reveled in the sight of my family all together just enjoying where we were … and I ate a ton of pie. If that’s not something to celebrate, I don't know what is.
Speaking of a big family, I’m thankful to see the guest list getting bigger and bigger. Babies, as I previously mentioned, were present in surplus at my house this year for Thanksgiving. Including both my mom and dad’s side, my grandparents already had three great-grandchildren, with four more great-grandchildren born in the past year and a half, and three more on the way — one of the ones on the way almost came on Thanksgiving Eve!
Although the guest list was already out of control, we were all bummed that my two younger cousins weren’t able to make it. Once we all moved on to the dessert, I heard the door open and my whole family roared and cheered. I had no idea who else could possibly be here or how on earth we’d make room for them. But when I saw it was the boys, I was stunned. I didn't ask what changed, how they got there or how they had gotten so tall since I last saw them. I stayed content in the feeling of not knowing and decided to just be thankful for this Thanksgiving miracle.
And I’m thankful for you, dear reader, for reading my cheesy little ode to my family. But it’s important to acknowledge the things we take for granted — not just on a national holiday, but whenever we can. Regardless of how or why you celebrate, the holidays are the perfect time to step back and see all of the life and love in abundance around us and be thankful for all of it.
Comments