November is a hard month for a lot of people. At this point in the school year we’ve been getting on long enough to be deep in our coursework and for the mornings to have grown considerably darker and more tedious. As we get a little too used to homework and school lunches, we could all use a push, and sometimes the push you need comes in the form of family and mashed potatoes.
Thanksgiving is a holiday too often overlooked in anticipation of the more exciting things that the approaching holiday season brings. Despite being perhaps the least marketed holiday, humble Thanksgiving inhabits a special pocket of time on our calendar where we need it the most. Anyone can see that autumn is welcoming winter as the fierce winds and turbulent rain pick up. Thanksgiving acts as a bridge between the two seasons, ushering us through the door for a moment of stillness and offering us the warmth we crave and the bounty of food we need to enter our period of hibernation. At its core, Thanksgiving is merely the blueprint of a time for loved ones to huddle together in the storm and indulge in the heartfelt culinary creations that are hard for any cynic to argue with. Although there are certainly distinct themes—turkeys and gravy and whatnot—everyone who celebrates celebrates in different shades.
Student Nate Dietritch (11) traditionally celebrates Thanksgiving with his immediate family in the comfort of his home. “One of the fine Thanksgiving traditions at the Dietrich household would be the fact that each family member is expected to select a particular food or dish that they then decide to cook and prepare and set on the table for the rest of the family to enjoy come Thanksgiving dinner.” Nate expresses with humor that the Dietrichs usually assign dishes two days in advance to the meal at most. Of the bountiful options, Nate is the self-proclaimed “mashed potato guy.” Within the family-preparation dynamic, his historic role of procuring the potatoes is something of a less recognized, though reliable, tradition in itself. The mashed potato love doesn’t end there for Nate, as when asked about his favorite dish ever prepared, he declared with pride, “My mashed potatoes.” The bar is clearly high, as even his brother Ryan Dietrich’s (11) jello from past years paled in comparison.
You truly can’t talk about Thanksgiving without talking about the food, and everyone has different recipes and secret ingredients that make their spread special. Student Eleanor Trott (12) describes her own family’s tradition. “Typically we host Thanksgiving, and all of our family comes over, and we make a lot of the food. Our Thanksgiving tradition is that we typically smoke our turkey instead of baking it. And then I typically make a cranberry tart, which is delicious. After dinner we play board games or card games together.” Trott has made her cranberry tart for the past three years, and it has since become a family favorite and part of the celebration. Taking part in the feast are both sets of her grandparents, one pair who live in Michigan and come down for the winter. Thanksgiving is as ideal an excuse as any to gather family from all over.
For GHHS teacher Mrs. Kennedy Floyd, Thanksgiving involves a special occasion where all ages—from her six-year-old grandchildren to her ninety-year-old parents—engage in a tradition of community and purpose. “In our family, not only do we go around the table and share what we’re thankful for, but based on my ‘intent necklaces,’ everyone in my family has to choose their word of the year and their ‘why’ for that word, and then we hammer out each person a word of the year chain that they can keep to remember their word.” Mrs. Floyd reflects, “What’s nice about it is there’s usually a story to go with it. For me, it’s all about people’s stories.” This tradition is one that brings the family together through every member’s participation in sharing about their individual lives and the generosity they offer in that sharing. Mrs. Floyd has prepared her own word for the celebration—“Influence.”. She describes the importance of the word to her as referencing her desire to influence people positively in all she says and does, a value she plans to carry out the rest of the year.
As the excitement for the holiday season reaches a pitch, Thanksgiving offers a soulful segue into the Christmas revelry for those who celebrate. In a way, the holiday marks the start of a new occasion, exemplified by many students’ tradition of getting a Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. Nevertheless, while Christmas is undeniably wonderful, the slow, indulgent culture of Thanksgiving is a thing we need more of in the present day. Whether you celebrate with two people or twenty, there is something uniquely special about a time dedicated solely to good food and the people close to us, and no matter the tradition or form of celebration, these are two things we couldn’t live without.