Dinner and a Movie (Maybe)

Growing up, my family generally followed the same tradition: eat turkey, and go see a movie in theaters. One year, we were out of town and ate duck at a restaurant. Things changed when I was a teenager, and we started spending it with some cousins about an hour north of where we lived. My cousin makes the best sweet potato casserole, so I didn’t mind not seeing a movie (that, and we usually saw one every other week anyway. There wasn’t much else to do in the town I grew up). Things changed again when I went off to college.

For the past ten years, my Thanksgiving plans have been varied. I almost never spent it in the same place twice in a row. For several of these years, I didn’t spend it with family either, choosing to use the break to visit friends’ families in other states.

This is the first time in ten years I will spend it with (most of) my immediate family twice in a row, and I’m exited. I’m driving down to my parents’ house in Salt Lake City Thursday morning. My sister and brother-in-law are doing all the cooking, which is great because they’re fantastic cooks. One aunt is coming down from Logan, and another and her husband is coming up from Provo. I also have to friends with no where to go coming over. The place will be packed, but my parents bought a huge table precisely for such occasions.

We’ll eat sometime in the afternoon, which honestly has always weirded me out. Why is Thanksgiving dinner so early? Wouldn’t you be able to eat more if you followed your proper eating schedule?

Considering how many people will be in attendance, I’m not sure whether we’ll keep to the movie tradition. Plus, there are small children involved, which limits our options to Rise of the Guardians or splitting into two groups. I don’t mind either. I like animated films, but they’re not for everyone. I’d feel a bit sorry for whoever draws the short straw on babysitting the kids though. We won’t cross that bridge until we come to it; my family isn’t really big on planning.

Regardless of what we do, I’ll be surrounded by family and friends, which is what every major holiday should be about. Well, that and pie.