Chloe Jiang
As the holiday season rolls in, grocery stores are lined up with turkeys, from 10 lbs. to a whole whopping 30 lbs, in every one of their frozen aisles. Canned corn, cranberry sauce, gravy, pumpkin pie, and stuffing are all freshly stock piled up in the front displays of stores.
The idea of a good old traditional Thanksgiving dinner, with green bean casseroles and everything, sounded promising; but, at least for me, it fell short of expectations this year. Although homemade cranberry sauce seemed like a nice, natural, refreshing balance to a turkey dinner; in reality, it was just cold mush–bitter and tart mashed up berries. I find cranberry sauce a side dish better to be put into a category with apple sauce, not in a turkey dinner.
However, even though cranberry sauce did not live up to its “hype”, not all Thanksgiving food was bad. To be completely honest, I definitely could not have survived without mashed potatoes and gravy dangerously piled up on my plate. Turkey and stuffing was also a definite delicacy; although after days and days of Thanksgiving leftovers, I am definitely not looking forward to another turkey sandwich.
Another thing that has definitely ticked me off in these recent years is the rapid decline of the traditional Thanksgiving holiday. To me, Thanksgiving should be a day to reconnect with family members and/or friends, and maybe even gaining a few pounds. It should not be about Black Friday, which has gained popularity in the recent years.
Instead of soaking up in holiday spirit, many people chose to ditch dinner with the family and wait in line at stores such as Best Buy and Wal-Mart; eagerly awaiting for “Black Friday” deals, also known as “Grey Thursday”. I understand the appeal of a TV that has its prices slashed by a couple hundred dollars, but stores should not open up on Thanksgiving day.
This year especially has been an exceptional disappointment compared to previous years. Several stores, such as Toys R’ Us, opened doors at 5 p.m, the prime time for most dinners. Not only did this shorten the buyers’ family time, but also the workers’. It’s crazy.
In the end, in spite of the shopping craze, Thanksgiving is no doubt one of my favorite holidays. At least for some, it brought together their families and friends from all across the nation to sit around a prized turkey…or to camp out at Best Buy together.
