Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy and pumpkin pie: these are the staples of Thanksgiving meals across the country—but in a school as diverse as Plano West, Thanksgiving dinners are a blend of food, culture, and traditions from across the globe.
“My family is Arab, so my mom cooks turkey and other typical Thanksgiving foods, like mashed potatoes, with her own Mediterranean spices,” senior Diana Nabulsi said. “We celebrate the holiday with our Armenian friends, and they bring traditional Armenian food, too.”
Senior Victor Certillo and his family also celebrate the holiday season by bringing two cultures together.
“I’m Hispanic, so for Thanksgiving, my family enjoys traditional Columbian foods, like morzilla— a sausage filled with rice, meat, vegetables and potatoes,” Certillo said. “Once my step-dad joined the family, he started cooking turkey and now we have that, too.”
Thanksgiving has been an American tradition longer than it has been an official holiday. It wasn’t until 1941 that President Franklin Roosevelt officially designated the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day. Since then, Americans across the country have celebrated the day by taking time off from school or work.
“When I lived in Cancun, Thanksgiving wasn’t a holiday, and I didn’t even get the day off from school,” junior Julieta Flores said.
Flores, who also lived in Louisiana when she was younger, said that her family would often visit family in Texas over Thanksgiving break.
“Now that we live in Texas, we see my aunt more often throughout the year, but we still have Thanksgiving dinner together, and everyone helps make the food and set the table,” Flores said.
On the other hand, junior Tonia Wu and her family celebrate Thanksgiving informally.
“We normally just start a hot-pot and watch the Cowboys game,” Wu said. “I guess we don’t really make a big deal about it.”
Thanksgiving also marks the official start of the holiday shopping season with Black Friday—starting midnight on Thursday, retailers and shopping outlets ring in the season with discounts and sales on everything from clothes to electronics.
“Last year, I pulled an all-nighter with my family,” junior Chaitra Vallur said. “We started shopping at 10 at night and didn’t finish until 8 in the morning. After that, we went to IHOP for breakfast. It was really crazy, but a lot of fun!”
While the food and the shopping can certainly be the highlight of the holiday season, there’s more to it than just that. As the name of the holiday implies, it’s also a time for reflection.
“Even though I have to sit at the kid table during Thanksgiving dinner, I am thankful for my family, especially my parents, because they’ve always been there for me,” junior Jayant Kurvari said. “In everyday life, we don’t always think about our blessings. Thanksgiving is our opportunity to remember and be thankful for what we have.”
