The year was 2012 and the season was autumn. In fact, it was nearly Thanksgiving and my family had a lot to be thankful for. We were in fact, going to Disney World to celebrate my brother’s impending High School graduation. My mother searched for a deal on plane tickets and found that if we flew early, on Thanksgiving Day, we would be able to get tickets for nearly half of what we would pay otherwise. Of course, we jumped on the offer, willing to sacrifice our turkey and stuffing so that we could have our vacation to Disney World.
The day came, and, despite being sick with a cold, I was beyond thrilled to be traveling to Disney World. We loaded up the car, and, with my box of tissues, I was ready to start our adventure. We stopped before we made it to the airport and ate at Denny’s. I can remember someone from my family asking my mom if we should order Thanksgiving food from the restaurant, but she assured us we could eat our Thanksgiving dinner at the hotel’s restaurant later that day since it always stayed open late.
Everything was going per plan: we ate our lunch, made it to the plane and were in the air on time. We were going to the sunny state of Florida and leaving behind snowy Pennsylvania. My family loves all things Disney, so we knew what magic awaited us in Florida. We knew that tomorrow morning, we would be entering the gates of Magic Kingdom and celebrating the magic ourselves.
The flight was uneventful, despite my siblings' attempts to scare me during my first flight, and we landed without problem. We loaded our stuff into the shuttle and headed to the hotel. Of course, during the excitement we remembered that today was Thanksgiving – a holiday we love to celebrate by sharing the traditional food and reminding ourselves that we are blessed. We looked forward to arriving to the hotel and eating at the restaurant as a family.
When we arrived, the restaurant was closed. Apparently, Thanksgiving is one of the three days it happens to be closed.
The protests came immediately from my family. How were we supposed to eat our turkey and stuffing? What about the cranberry sauce and green bean casserole? How would we know to be thankful without the food? The situation was unjust and we made sure to voice as much.
With reluctance, we filed out of the lobby and towards our hotel room. Once we had accepted that there would be no thanksgiving meal, my mother handed my dad cash and told him to see what the vending machine in the lobby had. We waited, my mother, brother, sister, and I, lying on the beds and vaguely thinking of the missed opportunity to eat our Thanksgiving meal at Denny’s back home.
My father returned and laid the spoils on the bed: a bag of potato skins, crackers, pop-tarts and Doritos. We divvied up the food and begin eating the small portions we could. How had our Thanksgiving turned into this? A cheap meal shared across our hotel room beds. We finished the measly meal and that was when we began laughing.
We just had, by far, one of the lousiest Thanksgiving meals in history. And yet, it wasn’t the food that made us thankful. It was the company we shared it with. We were going to Disney World and we were with the people we loved most in the world. What more in life could we ever want?
As this Thanksgiving approaches, I know that I won’t be going to Disney World and I won’t be eating out of a vending machine, but I will be with the people I love most and that is what I’m thankful for.
