By Giovanna Gatto
Managing Editor – Editorial
Thanksgiving has a special place in my heart that is filled with mountains of mashed potatoes and gravy slip and slides. However, this food frenzy holiday lives in an unfortunate place on the calendar. Thanksgiving is stuck right between Halloween and Christmas, which sometimes causes people to look right past the holiday and move on with the months.
For a college student such as myself, Thanksgiving can be a tease for our decadent month-long Christmas break. This is truly a cherished time for all academics. It is a time where we experiment with how long a person can actually stay asleep without needing food.
Then we proceed to see how much food a person can actually eat without getting sick. As you can tell, it is an important time in our lives where our studies are explored and our minds are strengthened.
While I could keep daydreaming about Christmas vacation, it is time to get back to the meat of the topic.
This year, myself and my house mates wanted to strengthen our Thanksgiving ties and host our very own Friendsgiving. My food-filled heart rejoiced. This meant that I would not only be able to eat Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday in November, but I could also feast during my personal celebration. I was giddy with excitement about the preparation that went into the cooking, shopping, and baking. It was finally my time to step up to the plate and show everyone what I was made of and what I could make.
Yet, due to poor planning and a lazy college lifestyle, our Friendsgiving turned into pasta with chicken cutlets. Also know as, Sunday night dinner. Yes, our Friendsgiving was a failure, a bust, and a total disappointment. However, what did not disappoint was sharing a meal with some great friends surrounded by great food. Yes, I wish there were mountains of mashed potatoes and leftovers for days. Yet, that isn’t what Thanksgiving is all about. I know it may be cheesy, but I was truly thankful. Each year black Friday tries to cast a shadow over the Thanksgiving holiday, and as we know, it already has the short end of the stick on the calendar. And each year, I hope people take a step backward and express their gratitude for what they have in their lives.
Now, before my words turn to mush, I do have one food success from my attempt at a Friendsgiving. After all of the festivities finished and the food was wrapped up, it was time for myself and all my fellow failed Friendsgiving pals to travel back to Bridgeport, CT.
Upon our arrival, we all came with our post-Thanksgiving feasts in hand. As we began putting the treats away it became clear that we all had different types of food at our Thanksgiving gatherings. One of my friends celebrated her first vegan Thanksgiving which prompted a taste test between the leftovers that we all had accumulated. The big test of taste was between my mother’s homemade pumpkin pie and my roommate’s vegan pumpkin pie.
We sliced the remains up and dished them side by side. Surprisingly, both pies had their own perks. The classic pie was well, classic, and the vegan pie was rich and dense. What interested me the most out of this experience was how we were able to share in our different holidays by learning what each other does to celebrate the most thankful time of year.
Now before I wrap up the leftovers, I have one more mission. While my Friendsgiving this year was unconventional according to no real set of rules, I do have a request for next year’s holiday. I want a food-filled Friendsgiving with mashed potato mountains and pools of gravy. Yes, I’m thankful blah,blah,blah, but what I really look forward to each year is the food. And frankly, one day of Thanksgiving just isn’t enough for a holiday stuck in the middle.
