My Thanksgiving over the years

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and I cannot wait to feast on food! It feels like just yesterday we were saying Happy New Year and now again we're coming down to the end of the year. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays because everyone gets to reunite with their family and actually catch up on all things that are going in life. It's an exciting time where the weather is finally changing, in this case, it's just raining, and the food is incredibly good.

I have family in both California and Mexico. Though we typically don't have many opportunities to drive or fly to Mexico because it can be a sketchy environment at times, we still manage to FaceTime or call our relatives to celebrate. Since California is only a 5-hour drive we go there more often. We've only gone to California for Thanksgiving on some occasions. We usually go for Christmas because there is much more to do out there.

A typical Thanksgiving here in Arizona would consist of getting together with our cousins/childhood friends. We would usually pick whose house to host the dinner at, then go from there. After that, we would make a list of what food we want for this year's festivities, and the list would typically include: Turkey, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, tamales, Menudo, etc. The next step would be distinguishing who is bringing what, and I now would always be in charge of the ham and mashed potatoes because she makes the best ones. The next step would then set a dress code. One year it was a formal dinner with a green color scheme and other years it's been more semi-formal.

This year is going to be a bit different. As time passes we all grow older, and this year I'm going to be working on Thanksgiving night. We've arranged to have our dinner earlier so then I can go off to work and my parents and siblings can go Black Friday shopping at night. The thing I like about Thanksgiving is that our house is already decorated with Christmas decorations. It makes the environment feel more welcoming and warm in a sense. It's a magical moment in life where family is back together like we used to when we were younger.