Thanksgiving means more than stuffing my face with turkey, ham, mashed potatoes and green bean casserole. Despite what you may have heard, there is more to the Thanksgiving holiday than food. But, I will acknowledge food's importance. Without delicious, homecooked meals, Thanksgiving just wouldn't be the same. If it weren't for our mom's stovetop and baking skills and our dad's grilling skills, we would all be sitting around the kitchen table with buckets of McDonald's chicken nuggets and french fries. What kind of holiday would that be?
Not many people understand the appeal of Thanksgiving, but those are the people who tend to believe that Thanksgiving is all about food. While food is a big deal, family is much more important. I would rather sit around an empty table with my family than sit around a table full of food without my family. Thanksgiving by myself would be a total nightmare.
In all of my twenty-two years of life, I have never spent a Thanksgiving away from my family. Turkey Day has always been my family's favorite holiday because it's the one time of the year our family gets together to enjoy each other's company and eat delicious food. Typically, my mom and dad host the day's events. In the past, they have prepped for Thanksgiving festivities three days in advance (mostly because my dad is a control freak and assumes the worst: "What if we don't have enough turkey?" and "What if people don't like sweet rolls? We should have three types of rolls," and "We can't sleep; there's too much food to cook!!!" But no Thanksgiving has ever been a flop. He's just a natural worrier).
This year, for once, we tried something a little different.
Thanksgiving was hosted by my sister at her house, and she got a taste of just how stressful cooking for an entire family can be. Granted, we helped out some. We cooked a turkey, ham, chicken, broccoli, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, gravy, dressing, chocolate eclair, pound cake and so much more (I'm making myself hungry just typing this). Even with all of that food, my sister contributed. We had a separate table just for desserts. My family is an eating family! We wouldn't have wanted to stuff our faces with anyone else.
Thanksgiving 2016 was a success for my family. My dad was skeptical about how it would turn out at first, but in the end, it didn't matter if the mashed potatoes weren't salty enough. It didn't matter if the rolls were a little burnt on the bottom. It didn't matter that my homemade sugar glaze for the pound cake didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped. Despite the minor "failures" of Thanksgiving, we are all surrounded by the people we love most. I wouldn't have wished for a better day.
How was Turkey Day for you and your family?
