I didn't see the assignment posted, so if anyone else is looking for it, here it is!

Assignment 15: Do You Know Your Neighbor?

You are juniors. You are in the Academy. You sit next to each other in Mr. Logsdon's class. There are only a few days until the end of the semester.

I think it is safe to say that you, at least, know a little about each other. Your understanding of each other may include extra curriculars, favorite TV shows, hobbies, but your level of familiarity may also extend into knowing each other's personality. Are they intimidating, carefree, honest?

This week, write about the person you sit next to in English class. What do they do? What are they like? What color would you characterize them as and why? Where do you see them in five years? What type of animal are they like?

I know you're in a seating chart, but you are writing about your peers. Getting to know you for the past few months, I have seen you as genuinely nice people and so I expect genuinely nice things in your posts. It doesn't have to be all puppies and ice cream cones, but your entries shouldn't cut anyone down.

Minimum of 150 words - due Sunday, December 4 at 11:59 pm.

Thanksgiving in England

My most memorable Thankgiving is actually this one just passed. My cousin, Carrie Beth, just moved to London two months ago while her husband, John, is studying at the London School of Economics. I and my parents have never been overseas, so we, my brother, my aunt and uncle, my other cousin, and my grandparents all decided that this would be a great opportunity to travel and visit. Unfortunately, my grandmother fell and broke her pelvis bone, so she and my papaw will have to go another time. However, the rest of us proceeded on our journey to Europe. We arrived in London on Thanksgiving morning. Exhausted from no sleep on the 8-hour plane ride, we slept in our hotel room until 3pm. That night, we traveled in "the tube," or metro/subway, to Carrie Beth's small, modern apartment. Along with our crew, John's aunt, uncle, and cousins were there from Germany too, as well as my Carrie Beth's friend who is also living in London. Carrie Beth prepared her first large meal consisting of gammon ham, mashed potatoes, salad, green beans, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, and pecan pie. Although it was a nice dinner, we didn't feel that the ham was quite the same as turkey, so my parents are planning on having another Thanksgiving meal this week. Yes, it was ironic to be celebrating the beginning of America by travelling back to the country we left 400 years ago, but the trip made it the most memorable Thanksgiving I've had so far.

Turkey Day...What a Wonderful Day

What does your Thanksgiving look like? Do you enjoy the holiday? What is your strangest or most wonderful memory of the holiday?

Have you ever seen the TV show "The Waltons"? Where everyone is kind and loving towards one another? Where soft, innocent music plays in the background and you think "Man, this family is perfect"?

Well, if you have, my Thanksgiving is NOTHING like that.

Sure we all love each other. And sure we're nice to each other. But Thanksgiving is far from the way that people conceive it, and I'm sure that we all realize it.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, because it's all about togetherness. No pesky presents to get in the way, or songs to make you hate the holiday, just being around family. And sure your Uncle Ted brings up that embarrassing memory where you "set fire to the cat that one Easter" or your Aunt June tells your father "how tall you've gotten", but don't we love it anyway?

Would we really be happier if Thanksgiving were more hackneyed and sweet? Or do we really just enjoy embracing how dysfunctional every really is?

Me Gusta Turkey

My typical thanksgiving looks like a bunch of first world citizens consuming enough food to feed a village. To be honest, nothing eventful ever happens in my family during thanksgiving except for everyone being present. Don’t get me wrong, I like the food and all, but it marks a time of awkward family conversation where relatives point out how cute you are and much you’ve grown. I could very much so do without this, but I know that it is better than not having much extended family at all.

The food is amazing since my aunt is a professional chef. This is the best family perk on holidays in my honest opinion; you don’t have to worry about the turkey pulling a National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation on you. All of the family being present is great too; I appreciate them fully, and feel blessed to have them, but man, the food.

Thanksgiving

Eh. Personally, i've never really cared about Thanksgiving. It's never been an ordeal or anything special. There has not been a single time in my life where it's been a huge family gathering with people flying in across the continent.  I've never had to sit down and wait for a gigantic meal to be prepared by my mom or another relative.

We've always just attended a buffet at some place. It's never been a big deal. The Marriott, Red Mile, etc. Just a simple buffet where all the food is ready for us to eat and then we head home. Just me and my parents, not really anyone else.

The reason for this is probably the relations we have with my extended family. My dad's family is spread out very far, from California to Vermont. It'd be unfeasible to meet up every year just for a meal. And my mom's family... I don't care to associate with. With no real family ties to the holiday, it's just a nice meal. And why spend an entire day cooking for just 3 people when a buffet can serve that purpose better?

My favorite time of year

Thanksgiving is my favorite time of the year. It's when family gets together and thanks is given. When priorities are aligned for at least a few days and when people realize what's really important. This year my family went to my uncle's house (dad's brother) in the country here in Lexington. We spend all day there with my family and my cousins and extended family who come up from Virginia and Alabama. In the morning, the guys go out and finish the turkey in the yard before spending a good amount of time cutting it up. The girls are inside putting the finishing touches on the rest of the food and the set up. Football is on throughout the house all day long. Football is a must have in order for our Thanksgiving to be complete. As the afternoon progresses, conversations are had about a variety of topics...for the ladies, variety of topics include exactly that while for the guys, variety of topics are basically sports variety. The classic football game in the yard with the family is also a must. The piano is available for anyone feeling the need to express their inner musical talents built upon a couple lessons ranging from any time between lower school to high school. Fires are built inside and outside throughout the day along with the feeling of love for those around us. When the food is ready, I always look for my giant turkey leg that awaits me at the top of the mountainous pile of turkey on a platter surrounded by who knows what else. After everyone is ready, Uncle Farra reads his verse and says the blessings as we all prepare ourselves for our wonderfully prepared feast. Quickly, the food is eaten and its back to watching football with the family. I wouldn't trade our Thanksgiving or my family for anything in the world. This time of year allows me to realize how blessed we all are and to see what really matters in life.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving for my family its a great mixture between informal and formal, every year my family including my grandparents and our cousins from Louisville switch off between traveling up to Louisville or staying in Lexington. However, we never actually make our food, we go to the specified house for drinks and appetizers, and then after about an hour we go to the country club for what ever place we are at for a buffet style lunch, Idle Hour for Lexington or the Boat Club/Pendennis Club in Louisville. The places that we eat at are always buffet style, with a plentiful amount of food, which makes it easy on the moms because they do not have to make food and is great for the guys because there is definitely enough food. During the eating there is a plethora of conversations varying from college and the future, to what alcoholic beverage is the most classy(popular topic of the day). After we finish eating the families depart to their houses with most of the day left for sleeping and football. Overall, Thanksgiving isn't a very important holiday for my family and is mainly just used as a get together and reminiscent event.

Hey, You There! Thanks.

The epitome of Thanksgiving is a gigantic family reunion, with children ranging from two to sixteen years of age running around, and adults eating at the adult table, talking about football while gorging themselves on giant turkeys and mashed potatoes. Alas, my Thanksgivings are little like this, as most, if not all of my relatives are on the other side of the Earth. However, we do eat the “usual” Thanksgiving dinner, just not in such a large scale. We have the usual turkey, with its savory stuffing topped with gravy, and either baked or mashed potatoes. The choice of pie is random – some years, we have pumpkin, others, we have cherry – we’ve even had the occasional pudding pie.

It’s a good break from school – four days of relaxation followed by a Sunday full of working on homework and/or projects. It’s a trade-off, but at least the four days are good for sleeping in. I don’t really remember any crazy or strange things about Thanksgiving, but I do remember that one year, we forgot to turn on the oven before going to see a movie. Needless to say, we had a late dinner, but at least it was delicious. To be quite frank, I don’t have much to talk about concerning Thanksgiving, other than the fact that it’s just a time to unwind and take a (short) break from the worries of school, and become a hedonist for a few days.

This Year's Thanks-killing

Awful as it may sound that was my Thanksgiving this year. Usually thanksgiving consists if my dad cooking for whatever segments of my family come to visit. The food is delicious and my family is pleasant and fun to spend time with. However, last year my dad took a break from cooking and we drove to Chicago in order to allow my dad's parents to cook. It was also fantastic and wonderful. This year's plan10s however were to go to the beach and have a beautiful and relaxing time but unfortunately that all changed. Since my mom's mother is moving my family found it oddly appropriate to spend the holiday helping grandmother pack her huge house filled with things from everyday since the 1970's. You may think I'm exaggerating, sadly however I am not. I spent the good portion of Wednesday going through all 1000 of here DVDs and then another 300 or so VHS tapes checking for extras and repeats and getting rid of as many tapes as possible. After packing all of those movies I was exhausted and so was my family. Here is where the "killing" part if the holiday comes in. My mother is opinionated and stubborn to say the least and her older sister is the same only slightly more vocal and likes to drink a lot more wine. My aunt married a very Italian man and to so the Italian blood rubs through the veins of my cousins is in understatement. So combine hours of packing exhaustation and some hit blood people and you are left with gnashing of teeth screaming and crying. Awful right? Wellrhr situation only intensified onto the next day (thanksgiving). The drama began to unfold at around 11 when three different people threatened to go home my grandmother cried and my brothers destroyed some 50-year old toy. When the dust finally settled and we wee seated around three different tables everyone was finally able to apologize. Especially when NY grandmother began to bawl a_nd so did my aunt and mother.
Usually the holidays with the Lain's are fun and eventful but this year was one if those exceptions when everything just seemed to go on steroids. In the end it wasn't so bad and I still do love the holidays but seriously I do not want another thanks-killing. Way too intense for me.

Flying Turkeys

Thanksgiving is one of my most favorite holidays. but I love all holidays. Every year, I go to my papaw's house in Jabez, Ketucky. I have the typical Eastern Kentucky, down to Earth family; one couldn't find a more redneck family if he or she tried. My Papaw has six kids, including my mom, and nineteen grandchildren. This Thanksgiving, we had two turkeys and one ham; unfortunately, this did not satisfy the entire family. We had chicken and dumplins'and every sort of food one could imagine. I wish there were leftovers!
The crazy part of my family loves drama. I could go into so much detail, but that's embarrassing and advertising my dirty laundry. The censored and blog appropriate version of our Thanksgiving includes a fight between my mamaw and aunt. After this fight, my family members Facebooked about it, so everyone got offended. The family gets on "sides" with one another and pulls everyone in on the issue. I still love my family and Thanksgiving. The food was great!

The nobody table

It isn't just AN American feast, it is THE American feast. As the classic image of an extended southern family sits down to say grace before a bucolic and beautifully adorned dining table, tricked out with a wicker turkey and carnations and candles, all is silent but for the voice of a singled out child or a carefully selected uncle to give thanks. After a generic, but still genuine and heartfelt speech, an excited "Amen!" bursts from the crowd in unison as if to say "Thank god that's over with; I'm starved." Then, almost as soon as it started, the unity breaks. The little kids go to the serving table first with their parents, then come the adults, then the grandparents. Finally, after all this is done, the unmarried and virtually alienated 12 to 20 somethings get their turn at the remaining casseroles, turkey and stuffing. This is where i usually fit in.

The parents quickly seat their little tykes in their little chair at the midget card table which is, in fact, so small that it makes you wonder where anybody could find such a petite thing. Those picky eaters start slopping away at their potatoes, macaroni, and dry turkey; they're just too young to enjoy the good parts of the meal. Next, the same proud parents rush over to their table so they can get a good spot to watch their kids. They, of course, have artfully selected their food and placed all of it precariously stacked on a novelty porcelain thanksgiving platter. The grandparents and great uncles and aunts follow suit, but tend to be less worried about what's on their plate so much as how well everyone else is enjoying the meal. Finally, at long last, the remainder of us outcasts get sent to the overflow table which is adorned exclusively by a stick of hard butter and a cruddy flower. There just wasn't enough room at the gussied up dining table, so we get sent here instead.

I look at my fellows. I see the libertarian one that got sent to jail for a year directly across from me. I see the gay one who lives alone in New York sitting to my left. I see the Aspergers kid sit down to my right. Then I see me, the one liberal atheist kid who thinks it just might be worth it to go to school out of state (the nerve). We have our conversation, and we have it gladly. It's not awkward at all, just good food and chit-chat between my fellow outcasts. However, we tread carefully around the elephant in the room. We all know why none of us is at the main table.

After the meal, the falsely homogenized mass of people resumes their facade of togetherness talking and chatting idly of the holidays and news. The curtain which was so briefly raised has been once again lowered.

All in all, thanksgiving is a great opportunity to revisit my relatives. We're all together in merry unison talking about the neighbors or planning out the black Friday shopping spree. But in all this lovey-dovey merriment, one can clearly see, if only for the hour it takes to enjoy a meal, that we were never as together as we'd like to pretend. A line in the sand has been drawn as clear as day, and one only needs to peek under the thanksgiving tablecloth hastily thrown over it to see that it's still there. It's only when we are all giving thanks listening to a short prayer that the togetherness can really settle in. It is at that point, and at that point only, that we are truly together.

THANKSgiving

Considering I can't stand turkey, Thanksgiving is not my favorite holiday, however, I do enjoy getting to see my family. Each year friends and family come, bringing food, to my house for a huge feast. Typically all the women are in the kitchen finishing up the food, while the men sit in the den watching football and drinking. After the over flowing mounds of food have been set on the table, we gather around and pray for what we are thankful for. This year my grandmother decided to bring a tree and paper turkeys so we could write what we are thankful tree and hang it on the tree. It doesn't take long before everyone is completely full and ready to go back to watching football.
All in all, my Thanksgiving isn't too exciting or different from the average Thanksgiving dinner. It's just a day filled with thanks, family, turkey, and pumpkin pie.

Thanks to the Giving

I always look forward to Thanksgiving. Typically, my family travels to Knoxville to visit family. Consequently, my break begins with a three hour drive to Knoxville. We spend time with cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents. On Thanksgiving Thursday we have a feast, consisting of the all the Turkey, stuffing, various pig meats common in a Thanksgiving feast. Turkey, pig, stuffing, potatoes, carrots, salad, brownies, pies, cup cakes- everything. There are even two turkeys- one is fried and the other roasted. It is in every way the standard, decadent feast associated with Thanksgiving. The break is a time to chill. Thanksgiving break is more about not having school than it is about feasting. Nevertheless, I enjoy the holiday itself. I love the food, family and chill time. I have no big memories of Thanksgiving. As I said before its pretty much chill time. The thing that makes it so pleasurable is the respite from school.

Thanksgiving 2011

I love Thanksgiving. In fact, it is probably my second favorite holiday behind the fourth of July( which is primarily due to the weather). I think the reason I like Thanksgiving so much is because, for my family, it remains the same every year. I have eaten turkey in the same house, watched football on the same couch, and talked with the same people every Thanksgiving for as long as I remember. And that is really cool to me. I think that my reason for enjoying something that never changes is a result of seemingly frequent change in my life. I have moved homes eleven or twelve times, schools about half of that. My time at Henry Clay has been the longest at one school in fact. If I am being honest, I kind of like it. I have made a ton of friends and had some cool experiences along the way, but it can get tiresome. So, within all this change, it is astounding to experience something the exact same way, every year. I always wake up around seven thirty in the morning, it always takes us until around nine before we leave. The drive to Prestonsburg always ends around noon. Dinner always begins at one and Nelson always says Grace. Green Bay and Dallas always play. Malcolm always falls asleep first. Punchbowl Cake always taste delicious. You get the point. Its like a really old building like a castle in Europe or something. An ancient, mammoth piece of architecture scattered throughout the world, so old and solidly built that it has become part of the landscape, no one wondering who built it or why. It just is. And Thanksgiving just is, every year, no matter what.

Occupy Dylan's Stomach: End Guttural Greed

I enjoy Thanksgiving not because it is eventful, but because it is uneventful.

16 years and counting, and my most memorable Thanksgiving is still the one a few years ago when an Avatar: The Last Air Bender marathon came on.

Go Avatar.

My Thanksgivings are so uneventful because all the participants, my immediate family, want it that way.

We want it that way because we've been working hard all year and gal-durnit we just want to be lazy for a few days. For instance, this Thanksgiving is the first time I've played a video game alone while sitting. If I do that any other time of the year I go crazy after 2 minutes because I'm not being productive.
Thank you, Liberal Arts Academy. Thank you for that.

Ok, so I do witness a few special occurrences. Would I call those eventful? About as eventful as these blogs: always expected, sometimes dreaded.

One event I don't dread is the return home of my brother, who's been in college since 2007 and my memory doesn't even extend to before then. He's the only family member who regularly shows up at our house from the 4th Wednesday to the 4th Sunday of November.

We pretty much laze around and have a darn good time of it. I lose about 10 IQ points, happily.

Another Thanksgiving pleasure is FOOD. We in the Sarkisian family appreciate some quality Tryptophan-rich grub. Every Thanksgiving is dominated by preparation of a dinosaur of a turkey, enough carbs in various forms to feed an army (if not two), an elaborate, thoroughly dressed salad and (maybe) a few other vegetables, and the old classic: pumpkin pie. If anyone witnessed our Thanksgiving feast, what would surprise them would not be the nature of the dishes but the quantity. We eat.

Simply put, Thanksgiving is a time to turn my brain off and my stomach on. And that temporary escape from pressure, around my family who I, strangely for a teenage, actually enjoy, is priceless.

As holidays go, I rate it an 8.8

The house is nearly frantic as our family rushes to make sure that all the preparations are in order. The tables are set, the turkey basted, the seven bottles of apple cider acquired for the five small children and three Mormons, the soda cans and moldy socks are recovered from underneath all the beds and chairs, and thrown out in due process. Watching from afar, one might almost think that some comical game was being played. A really bad comical game, with a lot of crying and teeth-gnashing, but a game nonetheless. And the setup is a little like a game in some respects. The trash in every room, much like ghosts and ghouls of various survival horror games. The food preparation, like Cooking Mama or whatever that game is called. The various tantrums and complaints, like a pick-your-own-path story, wherein you've not chosen entirely the right one. But everything turned out okay in the end, despite the frenzied rush. Movies were watched. Games were played. Plastic dinosaurs were placed in a very anachronistic setting and made prey of plastic tigers. Also, there were a lot of potato dishes.

yum yum

My Thanksgiving this year was closer to the typical Thanksgiving white people have. Well, for the most part it was. Instead of the older family members doing the cooking, it was just me preparing food for twenty people. It wasn't so bad, since food always tastes better when more people are present. We had some oriental flair to our meal, which made it deviate from the norm.

It's these holidays that I always enjoy, besides the days off from school we have. Everyone is together, and the atmosphere is more enjoyable. Friends and family are together, and most people are usually happy around this time of year, unless they're in an abusive household. There's nothing like the holidays. However, weird things do happen.

An unforgettable memory around the holidays that I was fortunate enough to experience was my time in Hong Kong last year. There were no presents, and everything was commercialized. But somehow, I really enjoyed it. I gambled in Macau with obnoxious Asian people, had meals in places where in America Health Inspection would shut down, and traveled around and witnessed things I never imagined would happen to me in America. It was wonderful. The plethora of unforgettable events just made my family's history more interesting. However, going back to Kentucky made me realize there's no place like home. No matter where you are or how great a place is, being home for the holidays beats it.

Thanksgiving

One thing about the Lakofka family is that we don't tend to mix things up. Thanksgiving is no exception. Every year we either go to a grandparents house with some cousins or they come to us. The day consists of everyone either bringing or cooking something to contribute to the meal. One of my grandparents job is always to handle the turkey, and he's good at it. The main course is always turkey and occasionally some ham along with it. We set it all up buffet style in one of the other rooms as theres no way all of the food can fit on one dinning room table. We all eat and talk and then retire to the living room where football is on all day. By about 5 o'clock I'd say the majority of the people are sleeping on a couch or floor. Once everyone wakes up its time for dessert which consists of everything from pie to jellos. And then more football.

A History of the Gardner-Lazarowitz Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It always has been, and always will be. We always do it in North Jersey with all of my mom's family (we're way closer to my mom's family than my dad's), where, although it changes slightly every year, it always ends up being rather similar to the stereotypical American Thanksgiving. When I was little all of the kids in the family and a few adults willing to brave the crowds would take us into the city the night before where we'd get a couple of hotel rooms within walking distance to Columbus Circle where the main part of the Macy's Parade happens. That morning we'd get up bright and early and journey over where we'd watch most of the parade, and then leave before the traffic out got nightmarish. As we grew older we gradually stopped going into the city to watch the parade and took on a more "let's just hang out and play video games" attitude. My Aunt Sue, who always put on our Thanksgivings, would cook the world's best turkey meatballs while sneaking up stairs every hour or so to give all the kids cookies. Then she'd throw this huge meal for the entire family and afterwards would have tons of her friends plus all the family for dessert. Yet, these idealistic, amazing Thanksgivings came to a sudden halt when Aunt Sue was diagnosed with cancer. Thanksgiving moved to our house in Kentucky where we'd have about half of my mom's family and a little bit of my dad's. Although Aunt Sue's presence was dearly missed, we'd always call her on "her" holiday and tell her how thankful we are of her. For three years she battled cancer and won, going into remission from December 2006 to December 2007. We once again had Thanksgiving in North Jersey, and it was the best one to date. Two weeks afterwards, she went in for her monthly MRI and was informed that her brain cancer had returned, stronger than ever. She passed away that June at the young age of 44, leaving behind a devoted husband and a pubescent, only child. For the next two years Thanksgiving came back to Kentucky with vastly smaller numbers of family, as most people chose to shun the holiday all together. Finally, this past year we chose to do it back in North Jersey for the first-post Sue Thanksgiving. It was different. Different people, different food, even a different house as they had recently renovated the entire residence, but still the same feelings. We had fun, with different people taking over lost roles, and although it will never be the same, it will always be my favorite.

Dinner?

Frankly, the Atwood family could not have had a more half-assed thanksgiving this year had we tried. My grandparents on my mom's side were going to come in, which was going to mean several days of B.S.ing and doing absolutely nothing besides going to cracker barrel and golden corral, which for some reason are my grandmother's favorite places to eat. But fortunately, by some divine intervention, that entire family got sick and could not come, so our thanksgiving was spent alone. This was perfect for a couple of reasons. For starters, it made thanksgiving last about 45 minutes. Came upstairs, ate, went back downstairs to watch football. The more subtle, but equally important effect is that we had bought food for 7 people, so the leftovers were rather abundant. All in all, kind of a stupid holiday, but to each their own.

Thanksgiving

I've never been big on a lot of the silly holidays; you know, those holidays like St. Patrick's or Valentine's day that have a moderate-sized cult of fanatics intent on pinching those not wearing green or staying up all night making cards with heart-shaped lollipops on the back.
Thanksgiving, however, is not one of those. Thanksgiving is the most enjoyable holiday of the year even though Christmas is probably the biggest. Christmas is nice and so are the presents, but between the shopping, spending, decorating, and hours of Mix-Mas 94.5, can it really hold a candle to Thanksgiving? Thanksgiving is:

1.) Wake up whenever you want because it doesn't start till late.
2a.) Cook some food with the rest of your family, an enjoyable and slow-paced hour of light work.

2b.) Drive to your relative's house and bring one or two light dishes (which took you thirty minutes to make and put in the fridge last night or that afternoon)
3.) Keep up with the game while you talk with extended family, or relax in whatever way you want until...
4.) THE BEST FOOD YOU WILL EAT FOR 364 MORE DAYS AND COUNTING
5.) Hibernate on the couch with the most euphoric state of fullness one can have
6.) Enjoy the less perfect but still awesome leftovers for the next 3-4 days (no cooking)

This is unarguably the least pressing holiday of the year. I mean, birthdays require cakes and celebration and "it's whatever you want to do sweetie" promises that must be kept. By the end of it you have 10 kids running around a Gatti-Town and a never ending war to keep them safe and happy, or even worse 10 kids running around your house and spilling juice-boxes on the carpet. Christmas is weeks of spending and preparation, and the ever-so-demanding cheer quota we must all meet.

Not Thanksgiving. Just fix a meal, watch the game, see some family, and relax.

Thanksgiving?

As I read the prompt for this week's blog, I couldn't help but let out a loud sigh. My family doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving in the traditional sense of a hearty family gathering; many Asian family's relatives live in Asia. So instead of celebrating based on blood-relations, my family went to an Asian gathering of people my mom know. Although we do eat traditional thanksgiving food like turkey and such, it's more so to emulate American culture than anything else.

I already finished what I wanted to say, and it's not quite 150 words yet, so I'll do some venting. Just the other day, Obama gave a speech about Thanksgiving, a pretty typical speech. Except throughout the speech, he neglected to thank a certain someone. The almighty god was nowhere to be found in his speech.

And while mobs were formed and pitchforks raised, I sat there confused, unsure of why some are reacting this way. The scientists are not thanked, for whom without, there would be no domesticated turkey. Nor mom, for spending the entire day cooking the turkey? Nor even the turkey, for sacrificing itself to fill our ever so empty stomachs? But again, who knows. /rant

Never the Same Thanksgiving

For all the years that I've been alive thanksgiving has always gone in different patterns in terms of where we go who we're with. Growing up we would always spend our thanksgivings in Raleigh, North Carolina with my aunt my moms nieces and nephews. This all stopped when I was about eight because my aunt had a stroke.

We then went to Oklahoma to visit my moms parents and brother for a few years. These were the best times because my uncles wife makes the best mac and cheese and as a kid I was obsessed.

The next four or five years were spent with my dads family in kentucky at our house. This was always fun, but my cousin is kind of crazy so it was always a little weird to be with him the whole day, but I always made it.

The last few years of thanksgiving have been quite chaotic to say the least my freshman year I was at school in Florida and my parents came down to visit me for thanksgiving. This was weird because we didn't even have a thanksgiving spread we just went and had lunch on the beach. The only part of thanksgiving that was present was I was so thankful to see my whole family that I hadn't seen since they dropped me off in August. Although I was thankful, don't get me started on the holiday season in Florida. It's Awful. Hearing christmas music when its seventy degrees is messed up and seeing palm trees instead of normal trees is strange. The whole vibe of the holidays in the tropics is not for me. My sophomore year I came home from school and we went to Lexington Country club this was pretty good however that saturday I got food poisoning which kind of ruined that holiday. Finally this year we went to

lexington country club again which was delicious. We went there because our house is getting redone and we don't have a dining room or kitchen.

As you probably can already tell thanksgiving is not my favorite holiday. Mainly because growing up I hated the food, and what people like about thanksgiving is eating and then eating the left overs til sunday. Well I was the kid who didn't like the food the first time around so then I starved the next three days losing five pounds instead of gaining it. However as I've become a less picky eater it has gotten better for me but I still don't enjoy it that much. Due to my lacking of a crazy aunt or some awesome relative, I don't have one of those. For me every year on thanksgiving I eat go watch football on my couch in the basement or someones couch and fall asleep to it. That's my favorite memory.