Like many other families, my family has some long-standing Thanksgiving traditions. Every year, we would spend it with my mom's family. My whole family would gather with all my aunts, uncles, and cousins at my grandparents' house for our dysfunctional dinner. This is the way it's been for what feels like my whole life, but this year is a little different for my brother and me.

This year, my brother and I came to the conclusion that we needed to spend Thanksgiving a little differently. Over the last few years, Thanksgiving with our extended family has fizzled out from the exciting time it was when we were kids. As we've grown up, we're no longer as close to those family members as we once were.

In a decent-sized family, Thanksgiving tends to become catching up with a few of the cousins while you eat, and getting ignored by the majority of the family for the remainder of the evening. So, we decided we're going to have our own Thanksgiving.

As expected, my mom wasn't too excited about this when we first told her. First, our older brother stopped coming a few years back, and now her other two kids wanted to do the same. However, as soon as she realized we just wanted to spend the holiday with those we're closest to, she jumped on board.

Going into this, I wasn't too sure how things would turn out. I was worried that my brother and I would end up bailing on the idea of putting any effort into the holiday. Thankfully, as we delved further into the idea, we realized we could make this whatever we wanted. We don't have the restrictions of 13 other people determining what we do or eat.

For the first time, my brother and I have the opportunity to plan a menu we're actually excited about. As I'm a vegetarian, I'm sure you can imagine this means a lot to me.

Sometimes, taking a step back from old traditions is exactly what it takes to find better ones. At the end of the day, all that matters is you surround yourself with people who make you happiest.