Turkey Day traditions

While some holidays encourage us to focus on unique and special figures, such as Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny, Thanksgiving encourages us to focus on the wonderful people that we are lucky enough have in our lives all year round, our family. Thanksgiving is a time to focus on all the small things that we often take for granted, such as quality time with family.Every family has its own unique traditions that to an outsider would seem odd and nonsensical but none the less hold deep meaning within that family. When it comes to Thanksgiving, some Samo students have unique traditions.Although some families enjoy spending Thanksgiving indoors, Kate Sonderegger (’19) and her family celebrate the holiday by spending some time enjoying nature and each other’s company.“Every year since I was ten my family has gone camping in Joshua Tree for Thanksgiving,” Sonderegger said. “We cook a turkey in my Uncle’s motor home and have an entire Thanksgiving dinner among the beautiful boulders of Joshua Tree.”For some students, such as Miranda Parkin (’18), a family get together is very hard to orchestrate because of everyone’s busy schedules so when the opportunity arises, multiple things are celebrated at once. “Some people can’t make it for Christmas so we combine Thanksgiving and Christmas into ‘Thanksmas’ and we get all our presents on Thanksgiving, which is kind of weird, but it’s cute.” Parkin said.Food is an extremely prominent part of any Thanksgiving celebration and for certain students like Maya Furukawa (’20) eating foods that are not usually associated with the holiday have become a family tradition.“My grandma grows pomegranates and I guess [pomegranate sorbet] is the only thing she knows how to make so she makes pomegranate sorbet every year and we eat it before dinner.” Furukawa said.Thanksgiving is a special time of year when Samo students get to connect with their families and celebrate traditions that have to do with anything from food to fun activities. These traditions are so special because they have likely been passed down for generations and will continue to be honored for many, many years to come.