What does Thanksgiving mean to you?
While Thanksgiving is a day of gratitude, for me, Thanksgiving also has been synonymous with reunions and spending time with family. As the years pass, I’ve started to realize that this may not be the case for everyone. What a shocker right? (That was sarcasm by the way, it doesn’t translate well via text).
Thanksgiving can mean family, food, tradition, or simply be another Thursday… And it’s all valid.
My History with Thanksgiving
I have been blessed with a wonderful family. Granted it is not the traditional “nuclear family” that is depicted in films with two parents and a matching pair of children, but all things considered, I’ve been very blessed. It’s during this holiday that I spend time with my dad and siblings. Sometimes the location changes, sometimes there is extended family, sometimes my mom and her side of the family joins us, or it’ll be at my dad’s house. The constant for me (minus a year or two) is that I’ve spent time with my dad and siblings.
While I love my siblings very much, I don’t spend nearly as much time as I would like with any of them. I can use the excuse of distance with my brothers, but honestly with my sisters, I don’t see them often. Part of it I blame on time, the other part is a feeling of inadequacy and awkwardness. Regardless, the Thanksgiving holiday has been a reoccurring event that brought us together (as well as the occasional odd holiday - you can read more about that here).
So yes, sometimes the highlight of Thanksgiving is the moist turkey (when prepared correctly) and mashed potatoes.
The majority of the time, the highlight is being able to spend time with my family. Even if I’m an awkward penguin about it.
Thanksgiving 2019
This year, I was not aware of my Thursday Thanksgiving plans until Wednesday night. Crazy right? I’ve grown to be used to this since that’s just how I’ve been raised. Plans are changed constantly or not communicated clearly, and I have learned to go with the flow. What I tend to do is keep my afternoon blocked for when the final time is decided and then plan around it.
In a way, blocking out my afternoon is me planning my Thanksgiving.
And this is in no way blaming anyone. Life happens and if the last minute planning sincerely bothered me then I should have stepped up to the plate and done something about it. There’s no use complaining if I made no effort to change it. There are things I could have done like reaching out to communicate more so I can stay in the loop, but I know I’d do whatever I can to be with my family, so it doesn’t really matter to me where we go. I just want to be there.
I also tend to make Plan B and Plan C, just in case things don’t go according to plan. These are loose plans, like calling another relative to see if I can join them in their dinner, or just staying home and making my own mini-Thanksgiving meal.
I’m just happy that I found out my family did have a plan before the clock struck twelve.
What others have told me about Thanksgiving
Now you know my thoughts on Thanksgiving and how I plan on spending my Thanksgiving this year (with my family). However Thanksgiving is not the same for everyone and I’ve started to really grasp on the real meaning of this by talking and sharing with others.
One person told me that they split their Thanksgiving with the two sides of their family. One side celebrates Thursday as is traditionally celebrated, while the other side celebrates on Friday before going on a shopping spree.
Another told me that since she’ll be working Thanksgiving Eve, her family has decided to do a very early Thanksgiving dinner so she could spend time with them before working a long shift in preparation for the Black Friday madness.
I have read elsewhere that Thanksgiving is a painful time. That they feel forced to go in the name of ‘family’ when they feel uncomfortable being surrounded by people who they feel judge their every move.
Lastly, I’ve been told that Thanksgiving is honestly just another day, and if we were really interested in family, we would see them more often and not have to rely on a day to eat dinner together. So what is done on the holiday isn’t important, making sure you are staying in touch and showing your gratitude daily is.
My Takeaways from Thanksgiving
As I have shared on this blog, 2019 was an emotional rollercoaster for me. One of my friends who I would wish a ‘Happy Turkey Day’ will not wish it back to me this year due to passing away in early January. And my cat, the one who I would cuddle with obsessively on these days off, she’s no longer around as well.
This has made me want to appreciate and love the people in my life that I still do have.
Similar to most things in life, Thanksgiving is what you make of it.
How do you spend your Thanksgiving?
Regardless of how you spend your Thanksgiving holiday, I’d love to hear what you do with it. Do you spend time with your family? Do you instead spend it surrounded with friends who are like family? Do you work through it? Do you stay home?
Isn’t it fascinating how we sometimes think that Thanksgiving (or any holiday) is meant to be celebrated one way? However everyone is on their own adventure and I’d love to hear yours!
Share below and happy holidays! I’m grateful you spent a few minutes with me on this article, even if you skimmed it!
