With the impending Thanksgiving break approaching, I thought I'd provide a reflection on some of my favorite things about my favorite holiday of the year. Here's my Top 10 list of why I love Thanksgiving.
10. Football. Thanksgiving is famous for its slate of football games, and in my household the underwhelming athleticism of myself (a 5'6" 130 lbs guy with a 4 minute 40 time) acting as quarterback and friends and family pretending to be receivers and a cohesive defense.
9. No classes. Unlike other National Holidays such as Columbus Day and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, we actually get Thanksgiving off from class, which is a pleasant break from the traditional cornucopia of classes, papers, homework and exams.
8. Snow. Coming from the lovely town of Chesterton, Ind., I'm used to the first snow of the year falling sometime around late November. Nothing beats "walking in a winter wonderland."
7. Food. Thanksgiving isn't Thanksgiving without food. Given my usual slate of writing (cupcakes, Thai food and the like), it isn't surprising that national turkey day is my favorite holiday of the year. Nothing beats turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, biscuits, cranberry sauce and pie.
6. Black Friday. Some of the great Black Friday buys I've experienced in recent years include: $8 waffle maker, which is in my dorm room, $10 blender that broke after the second use and the first two seasons of The Boondocks for $5 each.
5. Christmas is coming. The days following Thanksgiving are filled with Christmas shopping and decorating, realizing we are just a few short weeks before the holiday season.
4. Being Home. As much as I love being at the greatest of all universities in the world, being home for a few days is quite nice — particularly the homemade meals, carpeting and queen sized bed.
3. Sleep. Speaking of being home and a decent sized bed, Thanksgiving break is a perfect time to catch up on sleep (and all of the TV shows you shouldn't have been keeping up with while at school).
2. Family. Going along with being home, Thanksgiving is one of the few times a year I get to see my whole family and, as mentioned above, having our annual not-very-athletic Turkey Bowl.
1. Food. Yes, it's on the list twice. But then again, Thanksgiving dinner is not just a one-meal deal. Almost better than the dinner itself is the leftovers eaten the following days for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Contact Ankur Chawla at achawla@nd.edu
The views expressed in the Inside Column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
