Thanksgiving break is, in my opinion, the best break you get as a college student.
It's long enough that you don't feel rushed making the trip home and coming back, but it's not too long that you start fighting with your family and wishing you were back at school already.

Winter break can be nice and long, but after a while I just get bored. As much as I love relaxing and binge-watching Netflix, something begins to feel off after a while. I miss campus, I miss my friends. I miss complaining about how busy I am.
But Thanksgiving break doesn't let me reach that point. Five days is just the perfect amount of time to blow off some much-needed steam before finals start. It gives you the opportunity to relax, but sends you back to school before you start to remember how your sister never saves you any hot water or how your downstairs neighbors like to play drums at 9 a.m.

So, as I sat around the dinner table on Thursday, I thought of how I was thankful for Thanksgiving break. I was thankful I could spend time with my dog (even if he is a massive bed hog). I was thankful to see my family, and especially thankful that my mom was willing to cook as I sat around and watched "Jessica Jones" all weekend.

I have a lot to be thankful for this year. I may spend a lot of time complaining about classes and work and the person who lives above me who likes to do cardio at midnight, but all in all, I am very thankful. I know there are a lot of people out there, particularly around my age, who don't have the things I have. And while we should evaluate that Thanksgiving is a holiday built on the extermination and abuse of Native people in this country, I think the message of the holiday can still be useful. We should give thanks to the people in our lives much more than we do.

So thank you to my friends and family, my professors, my class mates, coworkers, bosses. I might not say it all the time, but I appreciate you all. And I appreciate Thanksgiving break.