We all know that Thanksgiving is basically a large sum of food shared with a large sum of people around a rather large dinner table. Families come together and give thanks for what they have while they indulge in the glorious turkey and the sweet potatoes and gravy.

Now, what happens when you're Italian and you celebrate Thanksgiving?

My family, as Italian as it is, dines with large sums of food every night, we have large sums of people over every week, and we have a very large dining table regardless of the amount of people seated around it. We don't go easy with our meals, especially dinner. It's the one time where the whole family can sit down together, parents and children included, and you are not to leave the dinner table until your plate is empty because "there are starving kids elsewhere."

This is the way I grew up, as I'm sure most Italians can agree. My nona would call us for dinner and we didn't dare say we weren't hungry. The response was "I didn't ask you if you were hungry. I said dinner's ready." So, we sat down at the table and ate everything off our plate. If you left something, it was because you didn't like the food. If you didn't leave anything, you definitely ate too much. Burping was a sign you thoroughly enjoyed the meal. And unbuttoning your jeans meant you just couldn't get enough.

Doesn't all this sound familiar? Perhaps on a certain holiday where full plates, burping, and the unbuttoning of pants all takes place around the dinner table?

So, let's put two and two together. You take an Italian family and have them celebrate Thanksgiving.

First off, we don't do turkey. As much as I love turkey, nona says it's too dry and her sides don't compliment it well. So, we asked her to change her side dishes and it was as if asking her to jump to the moon. Not only did she refuse, she threatened to make us all turkey sandwiches and make us eat outside because we were ungrateful.

Next, we asked if we could help making dinner. No, because we can't do it right and to explain it to us would take too much time and we wouldn't understand.

Then, could we prepare the table for dinner? Her followup: Do we know how many people are coming over? Do we understand that her friend can't sit next to her cousin because they'll fight all night long? The kids have to sit with the kids and the adults sit with the adults, and if you're stuck in the middle, you're basically screwed. You have to use the good china, but not the extra good china because that's for a really special occasion (that might never come). And every place at the table has to look exactly the same or you will have to redo it. And trust me, you don't ever get a chance to redo it because it's a one strike business to set the table.

So, what's left to do? Just sit and drink some wine. But then what happens?

"No one ever helps me in this house!"

So, Thanksgiving in an Italian (and somewhat Hispanic) household is pretty much like any other day. There's an over-the-top amount of food with a lot of family around a large dining table. Not to mention the shouts throughout the meal that is not yelling, just talking loudly. But honestly, there isn't a single thing I would change about my huge Italian family. We're very grounded people who live on the thrill of the grandkids becoming extraordinary people who will never go hungry. We protect each other to the death and we will kill each other first before anyone else has the chance to (steer clear of the chancleta). And we always give thanks for our meal because, unfortunately, our families have experienced what it's like to not have enough food at one time and they made a point at teaching the grandkids how to be grateful.

So, if you're Italian (even a little bit), embrace the crazy and loud family you were gifted with and enjoy whatever nona is cooking this year (cause it's not turkey)!