I love Thanksgiving; plain and simple. Everyone has a favorite holiday. Mine is Thanksgiving. Last year, I was studying abroad for the semester and was not home. Now, obviously traveling the world is not a bad substitution for missing Thanksgiving, but it was still tough. To me, Thanksgiving means family. It means food. It means football. It means tradition.

Every year, Thanksgiving is held at my house. This means two things—crazy mom and not having to leave the house. If anyone has ever hosted a holiday party, or had company over at all, I am sure you know what I mean when I say “crazy mom.” My siblings and I actually bet on what time she will start yelling. My bet this year is Tuesday when we all get home from school (yes, I know Thanksgiving is on Thursday). Having her run around the house cleaning, as we do “absolutely nothing” is truly comical. At the end of the day, nothing can beat just having family together. After being at school for so long, it’s refreshing to be able to go home and relax with loved ones. Especially when my aunt is already asking me to give her a Christmas list. Not having to leave the house is probably the most underrated part of the whole holiday. This means we don’t all have to pile into the car to go somewhere in the cold and more importantly, we don’t have to drive home after a long day of eating when we are all exhausted. Plus, leftovers. My aunts and uncles can only package up so much food. The whole house will be filled with leftovers--which means I can put off food shopping at school at least for another week when I get back!

Ahhh, the leftovers. Thanksgiving is the one day a year that eating three times my weight is socially acceptable. From the appetizers, to the pasta, to the turkey, all of it is just too good. Even if you are the type of person who can’t have their food “touch” or needs all different plates, Thanksgiving is the exception. I tried thinking about all of my favorite foods, such as appetizers, side dishes, etc., but honestly, we eat so much at so many times that I’m not sure how to categorize anything. Any day that there is zero responsibility besides eating is a good day for me.

I definitely enjoy watching the NFL every year, but in my house, the football gets taken outside. There is a long-standing tradition of playing football in between courses. This is not just your normal family-fun touch football game. If you know me, you know I am extremely competitive. So, I’ll give you one guess what happens when you put my family of equally competitive men in the same backyard. This game gives you bragging rights for the whole year. A lot is on the line. One of my (if not the) favorite parts of Thanksgiving is this football game. Since I was not there last year, I have a lot built up ready to go. So, Nick and Uncle Kevin, you might want to start stretching now!

Here’s a picture of me picking off my uncle a few years ago:

Wow, I read that route.

Happy Thanksgiving!