5 Things I Learned From My First American Thanksgiving

Coming from Brazil, I’ve never had the opportunity to celebrate Thanksgiving. I’ve lived in the United States for almost two years now, and all this time I’ve heard so many stories about this day and how it’s as important as Christmas – if not, more. I knew I wanted to understand something that could possibly be as amazing as my favorite holiday; what can possibly beat Santa Claus, Christmas food and the special family environment that day creates? This year, one of my best friends invited me and my roommate to spend the Thanksgiving break at her house in New Jersey. It was an opportunity to celebrate Thanksgiving for the first time, and here’s what I learned:

1. Thanksgiving isn’t just one day

To get this special day together, it takes a lot of preparation and hard work. From going to the market, cooking everything, decorating the house and entertaining the guests, Thanksgiving starts about 3 days before the event. Given that everyone brings a different plate and you’ve already prepared a fair amount of food, Thanksgiving ends about 3 days after the event or when you run out of leftovers – whichever comes first.

2. It’s as special as people say

Once everything is prepared and people start to arrive, you realize how all the hard work was worth it. Everyone comes in a special Thanksgiving mood, ready to spend the day with friends and family. From all the different conversations and stories, it’s a day where you create many memories of being with your loved ones. Similarly to Christmas, it has a warm and welcoming environment that you know you’re gonna start missing the next day.

3. Your food will get mixed no matter what you do

It doesn’t matter how organized you are about your food, it will get mixed. Me, being a person that cuts burgers and pizzas, was expecting to succeed in keeping my food separate and tidy – but in the first serving, I’d already failed. Everything looked like a mess, as it was all on top of each other; but believe me, the food tasted a lot better this way.

4. There’s no such thing as being full

There will be many moments when you believe you’ve eaten enough, even moments when you tell yourself you never want to see food again because you’ve eaten so much. When this happens, someone will bring you more food. It may be your parents or even a distant aunt, but this person will bring you a plate of something delicious that you still haven’t tried. You will question if you should and if you really want it. In the end, you will eat it.

5. Food comas are real

It was 10 p.m. when my body started failing because I was too tired. I wondered, how could I be this tired this early, as all I had done all day was socialize and eat? That’s when I realized that when people talk about food comas, they aren’t kidding. After eating an unimaginable number of full plates, people enter a different dimension where the more they eat the more they want to sleep. When this moment comes, people start to clean everything and go home. A food coma is proof that the Thanksgiving meal was a success.  

• food
• holidays
• thanksgiving