Best. Thanksgiving. Ever.

be thankful to wiki for furthering your knowledge ;)

 

Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is a traditional North American holiday to give thanks for the things that one has at the conclusion of the harvest season. Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States.

Thanksgiving Day is part of four- or five-day long weekend which usually marks a pause in school and college calendars. Many workers (78% in 2007) are given both Thanksgiving and the day after as paid holidays. [but America runs on Starbucks, so if you work at the drive thru in State College PA I'd like to personally thank you for that grande pumpkin spice latte last thursday]. The day after Thanksgiving is promoted as the unofficial holiday of Black Friday: the beginning of the traditional Christmas shopping season. Many retailers open very early (for example, 5 A.M. or earlier) and offer "doorbuster" deals to draw people to their stores [hence me going on that day to a cabin in the woods of central pennsylvania with no internet connection and no cell phone service]. A countermovement to this exists, calling the day after Thanksgiving "Buy Nothing Day" to campaign against commercialism of holidays.

Thanksgiving meals are traditionally family events where certain kinds of food are served [and by traditionally they mean ALWAYS, as in that day all of America eats the same thing. they're extremely attached to what should or shouldn't be done. they would not understand if someone suggested to cook something new. I put whipped cream next to my pie and not on it, seven people saw me and said: you're supposed to put it ON the pie you know.] As is evidenced by the tremendous level of travel, significant effort is made by family members to gather for the Thanksgiving celebration [what no one talks about is that after all the eating and the partying, everyone decides to go home at the same time and it'll take you about 2 hours to get to Manhattan, from the other side of the river]. Turkey is the featured item in most Thanksgiving feasts (so much so that Thanksgiving is sometimes facetiously referred to as "Turkey Day"). Stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy [i'm stating the obvious, but you have to make a volcano], sweet potatoes [topped with roasted marshmallows! not my personal favorite, i like my sweet potato with butter and brown sugar], cranberry sauce [really just like cranberry jello if it comes from a can, which it does 90% of the time. ps: it's gross], corn, turnips, rolls, pecan pie, and pumpkin pie [my personal favorite. you have to top it with whipped cream. and get the spicy kind, not the wimpy. variations are allowed, but most people just use the recipe on the can. tried it. loved it.] are commonly associated with Thanksgiving dinner, although it was quite probable that many of these culinary items did not feature in the first Thanksgiving in 1621. Often guests bring food items or help with cooking in the kitchen as part of a communal meal.

1621 Thanksgiving, The Pilgrims in Massachusetts. The early settlers were particularly grateful to Squanto, the Native American and former British slave who taught them how to fish and grow corn and also served as their native interpreter. The Plymouth settlers (who came to be called "Pilgrims") set apart a holiday immediately after their first harvest in 1621. They held an autumn celebration of food, feasting, and praising God. The Governor of Plymouth invited Grand Sachem Massasoit and the Wampanoag people to join them in the feast. Evidence to support that claim came from diaries of Plymouth. The settlers fed and entertained the Native Americans for three days, at which point some of the Native Americans went into the forest, killed 5 deer, and gave them to the Governor as a gift. [so that's a nice and clean version of the story, but also, a couple decades later, as the pilgrims were pretty successful with the whole let's-kill-the-indians plan, many new england towns and churches decided to celebrate those victories with thanksgiving days, and by you know, kicking the decapitated heads of native americans around manhattan. now that's what i call a happy holiday!]

 

 

 

now my experience also includes finishing a 1000-piece puzzle at 1:30 in the morning, playing speed with the kids, having pumpkin waffles, kicking ass at trivial pursuit*, stirring the gravy, eating too much pie, eating too much mashed potatoes, laughing until my cheek bones hurt, perfecting all the ways there are of saying pfff with the grandpas, facing awkward goodbye situations, sleeping til 1pm, eating too much. 

 

 

"me: you know what's so awesome about this family ?
anneke: no?
me: it's not mine! man i can fully enjoy the experience ;)"

 

 

seriously these people make me happy. every other month, when there's too much cynicism in my life, i just go see them for a couple of days, and all is well again, it's like magic. i'm actually all sad and bummed out that i'm not going to spend christmas with them (they have stockings with their name on it for cryin out loud!), so no pressure, but you better be happy to see me :p

 

 *especially when the question is "Where's the Austerlitz train station?" hahaha