The holiday season is upon us, and this Thursday is the big kickoff. Thanksgiving. The first Thanksgiving occurred in 1621 when the Native Americans fed the white invaders that landed on their shores like a herd of stray cats. Since then, Americans have enjoyed celebrating Thanksgiving by eating a ton of food, watching football, and leaving family gatherings early to go stand in lines waiting for Target to open. In honor of this prestigious holiday, I am dedicating my article this week to the Thanksgiving traditions I am thankful for.

1. Waking up early to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade

Since before I can remember it has been a tradition in my house to wake up, grab a bowl of cereal, and sit down together to watch the parade. As a little girl, I would put on my dress up clothes and dance around with the broadway performers and sing all the Christmas carols. My mom would tell stories about how the Rockettes reminded her of her grandmother who would often tell people, "Many a man fought and died for these legs." Now that I'm older, I sing the Christmas songs in my head and stay in my pajamas on the couch, but it's still one of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving all the same.

2. Buying a new outfit to wear around the kitchen

While Thanksgiving is never hosted at my house, we still go to someone else's house and stand around in their kitchen. It has always been a staple that my brother and I have a new outfit that we wear. My whole family walks around the living room and kitchen, dressed to the nines, just to eat a really big meal. And I love it.

3. Getting to eat Thanksgiving dinner twice

For the last three years, my boyfriend and I have split Thanksgiving between our families. We spend lunch time with my dad's parents, early evening with my mom's family, and later evening with his family. It makes it easier that both sides of his family spend Thanksgiving together. Doing it this way means we get to eat Thanksgiving dinner twice AND have a Thanksgiving lunch. By the end of the day I am so full of food I think I'm going to throw up.

4. Having to explain to every relative that I don't know exactly what I'm doing with my life

Seeing every family member in one day also has its downfalls. Particularly, the dreaded, "So, what's your plan for life?" questions. If I will see you on Thanksgiving, I will let this serve as a pre-answer so we can skip all of that awkward nonsense. Yes, school is going well. Yes, online classes do count as college. Yes, I am a creative writing major, and if you take issue with that, you can refer to my 5 Things NOT To Say To An Arts Major article. No, I'm not entirely sure what I will be doing in the next few years, but its probably going to be something awesome. There, I'm glad we got that out of the way.

5. Listening to everyone make a fuss over how I don't eat turkey even though I've never eaten turkey

Turkey has always been one of my least favorite meats. It's so dry and it takes forever to chew. I'm just not a fan, I know, I'm weird. That doesn't change the fact that I have never liked turkey, never eaten turkey on Thanksgiving. There are always plenty of fixings to fill me up. And yet, I still have relatives that look at me and ask why I'm not eating the turkey. I have never ever liked turkey, you have never seen me eat turkey, I swear. No, I didn't eat it last year. It's not your turkey, it's me. I promise.

6. Drawing my Not Secret Santa

My mom's side of the family is huge, like, really huge. Every Thanksgiving there is anywhere from 25 to 35 people there. So to prepare for Christmas each person draws a name out of the hat and that is who they buy a gift for. It's always entertaining to see who gets who and how it changes from year to year.

7. Laughing at drunk relatives

Everyone has them. The few aunts or uncles who have a few too many beers or glasses of wine and they get a little sloppy. It's okay, we know they're just trying to have some fun. So what harm will it do if we have a little fun at their expense? If they are going to act like fools, we are going to enjoy every minute of it. It's all in good fun as long as no one is driving or doing dangerous things.

8. Weird Southern dishes

I'm definitely not the expert on Thanksgiving anywhere but the south, but from what I gather it's a little different from the way we do things down here. Apparently, fried turkey isn't very common. Here we have turkey cooked any way you can imagine it. We also can't have a proper Thanksgiving dinner without corn pudding, sweet potato casserole, and pecan pie. I was shocked to find that these aren't staples all around the country along with mac n' cheese and cornbread. I mean, if you aren't eating any of this are you even having Thanksgiving dinner? I don't think so.

9. The annual kid competitions

Ah, the kid competitions. My favorite part of the holiday. When the whole family is together at once, there is bound to be a little bit of showing off. Janet's kids are all wearing coordinating outfits, but Cheryl's daughter brought her boyfriend who is a doctor. Jimmy just took his ACT's and he got a 27! Well, that is great for Jimmy! My daughter Suzy took hers too and got a 30! The flow of aunts and uncles showing off their children and the cousins being pitted against each other is never ending. You better hope you're on track to finish the semester with straight A's because if not, everyone will know.

On top of all of this, there are a thousand more things I am thankful for; my parents, my house, my boyfriend, my friends, and all of the blessings God has given me. After all of the leftovers have been put in the refrigerator and the shoppers have gone to wait in line, I will still have all of these things to be thankful for. If Thanksgiving isn't your cup of joe, fret not. Christmas is right around the corner and we get to do it all again!