For all of us Middletown kids, we know exactly how crazy the holidays can be, especially when a certain rivalry resurfaces. The annual North vs. South Thanksgiving homecoming game has been a Middletown tradition for years. Even we alumni understand the importance of this matchup. Each year, the Eagles and the Lions duke it out to see who comes out on top, and each year, Middletown celebrates this day of thanks together, as one community. Although the fan sections can get pretty heated, everyone means well, and we’re all grateful to be from such a spirited place.

If you’re not from Middletown, and are for some reason still reading this article up until this point, I feel sorry for you, because you don’t quite understand how a Middletown Thanksgiving works.

It starts with spirit week. The week of Thanksgiving, both schools up their ante in school pride. We’re talking pep rallies, blue-outs and white-outs, orange-outs and black-outs. Basically, both schools are preparing for war that Thursday morning. Both Midd South Nation and North Nation practice their “You Can’t Do That” and “It’s All Over” chants throughout the entirety of the week. Twitter fights ensue between the two schools, only to cease when the turkey is carved later that Thanksgiving day. Then, everyone’s back to tolerating each other.

But then there’s the great Middletown trashing, another grand tradition in itself. The cheerleaders of Middletown rent party buses and wreak absolute havoc on the football players’ households. Let’s just say that the cheer team definitely went to Costco for their toilet paper needs. They come in the night, TP the football players' homes, and disappear quickly without a trace. The next morning, you can cruise through Middletown and stumble upon several vandalized homes. Of course, it’s all in good fun, and the football players and their families are ecstatic about it.

Then there’s Thanksgiving morning. You wake up really early because you know that there isn’t going to be any good parking if you arrive on time. You stop at Dunkin, or anything that’s open really, and get your morning coffee fix. Then, you head to either Middletown High School South or Middletown High School North and present your ticket at the front gate. You see about a million and twelve people that you know, including people who graduated a million and twelve years ago. And then the ceremony begins. The senior football players, cheerleaders, and marching band members are acknowledged for their hard work and dedication for the past few years. Families walk them onto the field as spectators cheer them on. After that, the game begins. And it’s always a good one.

There’s nothing better than taking pride in your roots. Middletown is not only a community in the middle of Monmouth County; we are a family. And families fight. It just so happens that on Thanksgiving, our family fights like it’s the damn 1860’s (Civil War…north v. south…get it? Me neither). But all in all, we wouldn’t trade that annual homecoming game for anything, not even for all the sweet potatoes and pumpkin pies in the world.

And that’s a very Middletown Thanksgiving.