As thanksgiving approaches, and we all wait for that one day when we get to stuff ourselves to the limit, you cannot help but get excited.  Every family has a different tradition when it comes to the holidays whether it is related to religious culture, family traditions, or any number of things.

In the process of interviewing students and teachers around the Blake school about each of their different Thanksgiving traditions, I received answers that ranged from both ends of the spectrum.  Coco Kaminski stated that her family spends the day cooking together, and later they continue their streak of being together by eating together as a family.  I later learned that Julia Rock and all of her family wake up early to run the Turkey Day 5-K!  Another student that I interviewed expressed that their family is made up of mostly vegetarians, so not only do they make a large, delicious turkey for dinner, but they cook a delectable salmon as well.

For me, thanksgiving is a time when everyone on my mom’s side of the family comes together, spends a whole day of cooking, and then a wonderful night of eating, catching up with the relatives, and watching the football game.  However, this was not always our family tradition. It used to be that instead of a huge, mouth watering, family reunion dinner, my brother, father, and I got home from a long day of skiing, sat in front of the fire, and ate sliced deli turkey and French fries.

From all the interviews, and from my own experience, I have realized that you do not need a big dinner that took all day to prepare, but instead thanksgiving is about the time you get to spend with your family.   I believe that Ms. Eastin, the grade 11 dean expressed this best with her own experience, “We all eat until we can’t eat anymore, and when that happens, I get to play with the little people in my family and enjoy the rest of the holiday”.