Turkey Day

Like most people in the United States, I celebrated Thanksgiving with my immediate family like we do every year. I’m sure other people in the class will have torrid stories about drunken relatives doing crazy and unimaginable things; but my Thanksgiving was what the holiday is really all about: spending time with family and enjoying a big meal.

I awoke to the sound of my mom shutting the cupboard doors quite loudly at 5 a.m. I love to sleep and I can usually sleep through anything, so I was annoyed and surprised that I was up at such a crazy hour. I tried desperately to stay perfectly still in hopes that I would drift back to sleep, but it was no use. I climbed out of bed and headed downstairs to see what the need for being so loud.

Just as I was reaching the landing that connects the stairs in my house, I realized with much excitement that it was Thanksgiving, which meant not only would I be eating tons of yummy food, but also that there was tons of ads to look through.

Like most women that I know I love to shop and I love to get a good deal when I do shop. Yes, I have been known to wake up at crazy hours in hopes of getting a cheaply made Disney snow globe from JCPenny. I can’t help it. The whole process of flipping through pages and pages of sales items just makes all my common sense go down the drain and in my mind I get the crazy idea that waking up at the crack of dawn is worth saving 10 dollars on an item.

I ran down the stairs and out the front door picked up the newspaper and shuffled through trying to find what I was interested in. Meanwhile, my brother and my dad had wandered downstairs just in time for a wonderful breakfast of waffles, hot chocolate, coffee cake, toast and eggs.

My family is notorious for eating early, so it was no surprise that our Thanksgiving “dinner” actually took place at 1:30 p.m. As we happily consumed our turkey, mashed potatoes, rolls, cranberry sauce, stuffing and all the other holiday staples, we talked about what stores we were interested in going to the next day and had the television on in the background.

As I was sitting there eating my food, I couldn’t help but get sentimental and think that I really do have a lot to be thankful for. I have wonderful parents who have put up with me through car accidents (even when I hit the side of the garage), school dances and all the times that I snuck out in high school. I have a brother who is equally understanding and forgiving. Next year, when I am stuck eating at a restaurant for Thanksgiving because I will be away at school and I have never made a huge meal on my own, I’ll be wishing that my mom was there to make me a delicious meal and that I had my whole family for company.