By Tatiauna Miller

Most people have some type of Thanksgiving tradition, whether it’s playing football with the neighborhood kids, catching a new flick at the cinema or laying around like a fat cat with stretchy pants after feasting. My Thanksgiving celebrations over the years usually starts with a road trip, to me it’s not really the holidays without a late night road trip. Those road trips are precious memories; its hours of stories, conversations, arguments and music. My love for music was born on the road. I remember annoying my parents by playing the same song over and over again until I became the official road trip DJ. Before iTunes and XM Radio, I had mix tapes that turned into 100s of CDs. I remember shuffling through my CDs like playing cards before each road trip.

I spent this Thanksgiving in South Carolina with my grandparents. The weather was amazing and the sky was so beautiful. My daughter asked me the first day we got there, “Why is South Carolina so beautiful?” Even though I couldn’t answer the question, it made me happy to hear she enjoys visiting as much as I do. This year’s Thanksgiving was bittersweet; it was nice to have my daughter eat dinner with some of the same people my father celebrated Thanksgiving with as a child. I’m happy she has the opportunity but as my family grows older I wonder how many more holidays we have left to spend together? Growing up I spent many holidays with my grandparents and as a kid I remember thinking the holidays didn’t feel “Right” unless I was spending it at their house. This year’s Thanksgiving was very different from the previous years, we usually show up with empty tummies and my grandmother provided the entire meal. This year we provided all the food and surprisingly enough the Grand’s enjoyed it, it was a nice change for them and for us as well.

I’ll let you in on a secret, I don’t like to eat Thanksgiving at other people’s houses. Especially if there is a high probability that the food will be less than tasty. Call me a food snob all you want but I’d rather cook a feast at home for two than go to someone’s house and have Boston Market and Patti LaBelle pie. Thanks, but no thanks! Let’s talk about some of those holiday food faux pas. Don’t invite me for Thanksgiving and you’re serving anything that comes in a box, stuffing, mash potatoes, or macaroni and cheese. I can understand the box food if we’re living in post-apocalyptic earth and war has destroyed everything but damn it’s the holidays though!

It’s not baked macaroni and cheese if you sprinkled some cheese over noodles like it’s garnish. Oh and can somebody please explain, what’s green bean casserole? I had to google the ingredients because the dish just doesn’t make sense. A tip for the “Struggle Chefs” Butterball sells wonderful precooked turkeys. Have you ever had some turkey so dry you almost choked? One bite of that Sahara desert turkey has sucked up all the moisture in your mouth and throat and now you’ve got the hiccups. How come when you try to swallow that dry turkey, you have to open your eyes really wide to help it go down? Turkey got you so thirsty, you panic an almost knock over the gravy boat to get to the water pitcher. Please don’t call egg yolk and mayonnaise deviled eggs, you’re just serving egg salad.

I remember in grade school we always had a Thanksgiving meal and lessons about giving and being thankful and of course the Pilgrims and Indians. I remember a few times when my teachers made the class dress up as either a Pilgrims or Indian. I always wanted to be the Indian, but every year I was selected to be the Pilgrim. I would be so mad I had to put on that big ass paper bonnet and bib the teachers would give us. I noticed this year many people are not celebrating Thanksgiving, choosing to not pay homage to the Pilgrims who within a few years of that “Peaceful” celebration killed off thousands of the native people and stealing their land. I understand their stance on the issue but I will continue to celebrate Thanksgiving. I’m not ignoring the sad history behind the day but I’d like to continue my family’s tradition of gratitude and love to others.

Thanks again for giving me your time! Have a beautiful day, laugh more and live more.

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