A few years ago, I was chatting with a friend from Turkey who was spending her very first Thanksgiving ever here in the United States. She had immigrated here just a few months prior for a teaching opportunity at a university, and was instantly smitten with America’s holiday season.
It was just a few weeks prior that my friends and I were telling her about Halloween. There’s no trick-or-treating in Turkey, although they do celebrate the holiday their own way. She thought going door to door asking for candy was a Hollywood myth, and was thoroughly bummed to learn people in their 30’s couldn’t take part.
When Thanksgiving rolled around, she was absolutely elated. Finally, a holiday she could participate in as an adult! And she went all out, too. Her Facebook was overflowing with photos of the massive feast she had prepared, which consisted of both Turkish and American foods.
Being a vegetarian, she didn’t have a turkey (and yes, I made the obligatory joke that she’s from Turkey and should therefore eat turkey). But she did make a variable smorgasbord of her favorite American and Turkish meals. Vegetarian pide, Imam bayildi, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mushroom pizza (yes, I said pizza) … it was a genuine feast.
As I joined my friends in explaining to her the holiday’s origins and attempting to define what Thanksgiving is meant to be, I was left with a heightened appreciation of what it means to be an American. Not in a historical or political sense, but with the realization that despite all of our differences (and our best efforts to argue about those differences), all of us have shared traits that help define us as Americans … and those differences define us, too.
How Do You Define Thanksgiving?
Thanksgiving is a holiday every American can participate in, and it’s one every family can mold to their liking to make it their own. We all have our own unique Thanksgiving traditions, and there’s really no wrong way to celebrate, so long as you’re trying to have a safe, happy Thanksgiving with your family and friends. It’s a holiday we all celebrate together, differently.
In my house, Thanksgiving dinner is just the appetizer for the evening’s main event: a grueling, dangerous, take-no-prisoners, winner-take-all game of the absolute highest stakes. Monopoly.
Our family Thanksgiving Monopoly game is the stuff of legends. There are deals set in place from 1985 that still haunt the board to this day. It’s a game where rivalries run deep and tempers flare often, and where everyone can tell you who won in what year. Champions, after all, are never forgotten.
And that is, in my opinion anyway, what makes Thanksgiving such a great holiday. It’s not the food. It’s not even the time with our family and friends. It’s the sense that despite all of our differences, our nation still has deep roots that dig well beyond politics, or religion, or any of the other taboo subjects we’re not supposed to bring up at the dinner table.
It doesn’t matter if you’re having turkey or vegetarian pide. You can all hold hands and say grace, or argue about football, or play an intensely competitive board game together, or watch Planes Trains & Automobiles.
It doesn’t really matter what you’re doing, so long as you’re doing it together. It’s a holiday where we should all stop arguing about all the things that make us different, long enough for us to recognize, admire, and cherish all of the things that make us the same.
Wishing You a Fun, Safe, and Happy Thanksgiving!
With much of the country experiencing unusually harsh weather, not everyone will be able to enjoy the safe and happy Thanksgiving we’re all hoping and planning to have. But we do sincerely hope all of you are able to safely reach your destinations and spend your Thanksgiving this year with your loved ones, albeit in person, or over the phone, or via video calls.
Tent and Table will be closed for Thanksgiving, so our staff and our customers can enjoy the holidays with family and friends. But we’ll be back in full swing on Black Friday with some of the best sales and deals you’ll find in our industry.
On behalf of everyone at Tent and Table, here’s wishing you and your family a safe and happy Thanksgiving!