If you are anything like me, your favorite part about the holidays is always the food. Prime rib and garlic mashed potatoes on Christmas and honey-glazed ham with green beans soaked in butter on Easter, I am happiest when I have delicious food and my ridiculous family surrounding me. Although none of these great feasts can even begin to compare to what Thanksgiving brings us. Good friends and even better cooking. A holiday devoted to stuffing our faces until our jaws are sore from chewing and there is no more room in our stomachs, a holiday where we are thankful for the people we spend it with, who you know will not judge our character when we go back to the kitchen for seconds, thirds, or even fourths.

Thanksgiving is the absolute best holiday for a wide array of reasons. However, let’s get one thing straight, as much as we like to say that this national eating day is about being thankful for what we have, let’s be honest—It is all about the cooking. When you have friends who transform their homes into a five star Michelin restaurants specifically for this day, there is a reason why you start festivities at 8:30 a.m. in the morning.

We wake up bright and early to get assigned a job. If you are really skilled you can handle to mashed potatoes, a sacred dish. If cooking is a foreign concept to you… man, those sweet potatoes really need cleaning. Either way, everyone helps. Eating together may be the end product, but I think that it is this cooking and baking period that makes this holiday so fun.

The hard work and preparations we put into every minute we spend in the kitchen is worth it in the end.

Sophie's Typical Family Thanksgiving Day:

• Job Assignment & Cooking Commences. (8:00 a.m.)
• Brunch. (9:00am)

Rest and Watch Football

• Flag-Football Tournament. (11:00 a.m.- 12:00 p.m.)

Rest and Watch Football

• Drive to Location of Thanksgiving Dinner (2:30 p.m. sharp)
  • **taking two cars, one to transport people, the other for strictly food.
• Appetizers & Drinks (2:30p.m. – 3:30p.m.)

Rest and Watch Football

• Dinner (4:00p.m.)

Rest and Watch Football

• Dessert, more wine, and more dancing (6:00 p.m.)
• Food coma ensues

SLEEP and dream of doing it all over again in another year.

As much fun as it is to joke about how Thanksgiving is strictly about food, I swear it would not be nearly as entertaining if the people I love most did not surround me. Crowding five different families, ten couples, seven kids, and a golden retriever around a table as long as a school bus laughing till we cry, sharing memories of past holidays spent together, catching up, and smiling really is what makes this day my favorite holiday in the year.

I am so thankful for those who make me who I am. I am thankful for this holiday that brings people together. I am thankful that I have something as sweet as this to look forward to every year when the calendar turns to November. But I am most thankful for how even though I have spent countless holidays with the same people, that it never gets repetitive. I never get tired of “Uncle” Greg & Ed’s forehead kisses or deep conversations, “Aunt” Lisa & Carmen’s hugs and dance moves, my own mothers “happy” dance when wine is brought out, or my father’s rendition of whatever dance craze is popular at the time. It. Never. Gets. Old. To be honest I would not want it any different way because this is why Thanksgiving is the best.