Thanksgiving, a day filled to the brim with scrumptious feasts, offers a variety of culinary opportunities aside from the traditional turkey and gravy. I’ve gathered some of the best Thanksgiving traditions so that you can decide if you want to add something new to your turkey day.

Thanksgiving highly encourages stuffing your face with some of the richest foods, so why not take advantage of it with these fun dishes or traditions some of your fellow members of CHS had at their table? Think back to your Thanksgiving this year and picture this: enjoying appetizers turned entrees, like savory cheese and crackers, with family and friends.

If you were an absolute turkey fanatic, shake it up a bit next year by looking outside of the oven realm when searching for your cooking apparatus. Why not try out a charcoal stove. Or a deep fryer. Or even a garbage can! It might turn out even better; you never know until you give it a go. 

If the actual turkey was never your jam, branch outside of the realm of Thanksgiving foods. In my search for the best Thanksgiving traditions, I’ve found students that had pizza, Chinese food, and pastel de papas during the holiday; These could be the perfect addition to your table next year! With an excuse to indulge, you could challenge yourself and try to eat two whole sleeves of Pillsbury Crescent Rolls. Or you could make it a family challenge, and throw down the gauntlet at your cousin’s feet in a stuffed mushroom eating contest. 

Finally, for dessert, you could stray from the usual array of pies to an unconventional ice box cake and discover a new family favorite!

But enough about food—Thanksgiving is about being thankful, and what better to have been thankful for than the people around you? Conversation can be fun, and entertaining, especially if you, like one CHS student noted, have an aunt who is always lecturing people who are not following the Keto diet. However, if you are always the one running out of ideas for talking points, here are some activities that some CHS students participate in yearly that may also appeal to you:

• Watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
• Watch the National Dog Show
• Watch the March of the Wooden Soldiers
• Do the wave before you eat
• Go for a family hike in between dinner and dessert
• Perform a pre-dinner song about being thankful for the food on your table

Whether your traditions are commonplace or not, we are all united by celebrating Thanksgiving every year and gathering with our family and friends.