Above all Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It doesn’t have the pressure and running around to gather the perfect gifts, lacks the need to run around all night in a silly/complicated costume, isn’t as dangerous as fireworks and alcohol (though sometimes that is fun), doesn’t have the let down of ending at midnight, and it doesn’t have a silly bunny running around hiding eggs (which never made any sense to me). What it does have is your family and/or friends gathering just to celebrate a meal and hang out together.
With that said, I know what some people might be thinking, ‘What about the pressure and chaos of the family coming’. My answer is embrace it, and let it fold into the event. I got both experiences growing up. My family at Thanksgiving consisted of my dad, mom, sister, and me. We have always had a pretty quiet Thanksgiving which is much different from a lot of my friends. We would make a turkey and maybe three or four side dishes and that would be it.
I also like the BIG Thanksgiving. The one where massive amounts of people descend on a chosen family member’s house and bring their appointed dish making for a very large spread. The appeal of this probably came from me not really having a large extended family close to where we lived, but still it was an event. My favorite place to be a part of this was my best friends house, catholic. They had a sort of organized chaos.
Here is my list of why Thanksgiving is the best and most American holiday…
Christian McLean 