This is an essay I had to write for school last week. It's a personal essay about Thanksgiving. Hope you enjoy it! ~Lauren
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For many families, Thanksgiving is a joyful day of giving thanks, yummy food, family and football. While this is certainly the case for my family, I can’t help but think that most families don’t have what I’ve grown up with. Our most recent thanksgiving holiday stretched into a four-day weekend, starting with a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner, and ending with a fantastic Sunday lunch, but the fellowship with extended family through the weekend is what made it one that I will remember for a long time.
While football is part of our holiday weekend, I love it solely for entertainment reasons. When my aunts and uncles watch football, they are very vocal. Listening to them whoop while doing their victory dances, or yell at the players to run faster is much more entertaining than the actual game. Of course, our weekend wouldn’t be complete without also having a chick-flick movie night. We usually have one “girls only” movie night, while the guys watch sports and play video games. This is always fun, and we get to enjoy having some girl time while watching period-pieces.
Another tradition that my cousins and I have established over the years is coloring Disney pictures with crayons, while listening to musical soundtracks. This tradition was a big part of our holiday this year, including an eleven-man parade to the store to buy coloring pages. Another tradition we love is playing “outside” games, such as ultimate frisbee, basketball, mafia, (a made-up game based on a card-game) and tag. These games are especially great because we can all enjoy time together, even though our group this year varied in age from 11 to 20.
Sunday morning Church is also a great blessing because the relationships we’ve built up during the week are fortified as we worship our God together. This is something that I’ve never really thought about before, but this holiday season has really helped me appreciate the amazing blessing of a wonderful family.
This holiday season, I really feel like I’ve had an epiphany. I’ve learned that I’ve been blessed with a wonderful childhood, with great family, and memories I will never forget. I’ve learned that crazy families are the best, tradition is good, and the future will be amazing. As we have built up relationships and memories together, I have learned what a gift my grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins have given me: the gift of a close family. That is what I am thankful for this year.
