Thanksgiving is often seen as one of the most underrated holidays, always being overshadowed by Christmas. Although I absolutely love Christmas and am guilty of listening to Christmas music as soon as November 1st begins, highlighting this holiday seemed necessary. What are my Thanksgiving traditions you may ask?

Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade 

Every Thanksgiving morning I wake up and turn on the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. With extremely detailed balloons and floats, the parade is both fun and beautiful to watch. Performances from singers, marching bands, dancers, and cheerleaders add some entertainment throughout the parade. The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade can be watched on NBC from 9 until noon. Ever since I was young, my favorite balloons have been the Pillsbury Dough Boy and Snoopy.

Senior Marshall Fleming went to the parade when he was 7 or 8 years old. His favorite balloons were  Clifford the Big Red Dog and  Snoopy.

The National Dog Show

The National Dog Show airs directly after the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, so chances are most of you have at least seen a snippet of the show. Two hours of watching adorable dogs is a great way to spend part of Thanksgiving, I highly recommend it. All of the dogs are winners in my heart!

Food

Every year my mom fixes her baked mac n cheese for Thanksgiving dinner. We also eat chocolate pecan pie for dessert. The first time that I actually had pumpkin pie was only a few years ago. I like pumpkin pie, but nothing can beat warm chocolate pecan pie.

Putting up Christmas Decorations

Technically my family doesn’t put up Christmas decorations on Thanksgiving day, but we always put them up over break. We put up our tree while listening to Christmas music. A few years ago I got a mini tree to put in my room, so I love putting it up and getting new ornaments for it every year. I also have a light up snowman collection that continues to grow. Hmm maybe I will do an article on Christmas decorations…stay tuned.

What unique traditions do Magnet students have?

Marshall Fleming (12) – “No one eats breakfast or dinner, it is one big 4 hour long meal”

Rebecca Marhefka (12) – “We have this box of “Angel Cards” that has interesting adjectives on them. Everyone blindly draws a card during dinner and discusses why they think that card describes them. I also have family from D.C. that I never see except on Thanksgiving when they come down to visit.”

Emily Daniels (9) – “I make all the desserts for the week of thanksgiving.”

April Johnson (12) – “My family isn’t much for a traditional family dinner with the turkey. For the majority of my life, my family has had a whole hog barbeque as our meat of choice. My dad, uncle, and granddad spend the night before awake and attending to the grill, stirring coals. My granddad’s side of the family comes to my grandparents’ house and everyone lays their sides out on the counter in the carport. We eat on fold out tables under the carport with the propane heaters on.”

Nicole Drucker (12) – “I bake as many pumpkin desserts as possible!”

Meredith Finley (9) – “My family always has chocolate pie on Thanksgiving because it’s a family recipe!”

Connor Sawall (10) – “Me and my brother do the Oklahoma drill until someone gets injured.”

Kinsey McDaniel (9) – “Every Thanksgiving, to avoid a fridge full of leftovers, we have Thanksgiving pt. 2 on either that following Friday or Saturday. We also start decorating Thanksgiving night.”

Gryphon Osbon (9) – “On my mom’s side of the family, instead of eating traditional Thanksgiving meals, my grandmother makes a lot of different Spanish dishes to celebrate their Hispanic heritage.”

Talia Barsness (9) – “We always have a Thanksgiving lunch at my brother’s house and then a Thanksgiving dinner at my aunt and uncle’s house and we watch the Macy’s parade no matter where we are.”

Noah Johnson (11) – “We used to have a tradition of going to my grandparents’ house every year and eating the big amount of food that they made there, but I think over the last couple of years we have kind of just stopped doing that. I have no clue of what we’re gonna do this year. We almost decided to go to our single friend’s apartment with our family of 6 and eat there, but we figured that it would be too much to make one guy in a little apartment cook for 7 people. Therefore, I have no idea what we’re doing for Thanksgiving this year… I guess we don’t really have a tradition anymore besides eating… Tadaaa”

Thank you to those of you who sent in your traditions! Feel free to bring me any leftover Thanksgiving desserts. Just kidding, but in all seriousness I hope you all have a great break!

Pilgrim photoshopping credits to Macey Bearden! Thank you Macey, Emily Weber, Mary Compton, and Anna Leigh Tangeman for being the best pilgrim models.