When most people think of Thanksgiving, they picture family gathered around a warm table with a spread of the most iconic Thanksgiving dishes and watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. When I picture Thanksgiving, I think of awkward family encounters and arguments around the table, so it’s no wonder Thanksgiving has never been my favorite holiday. As the years have gone by I’ve tried to stray away from the concept of a traditional Thanksgiving. Living at home it was much harder to simply not go, but now living away from my family in a completely different city has allowed me to start my own traditions and create my own idea of what Thanksgiving is to me.Â
Two years ago was my first official year telling my entire family that I was staying home for Thanksgiving, and they were definitely less than excited and of course contested I come home. After a few hundred “no’s,” they eventually accepted my decision and it was time for me to plan how I would be spending my first Thanksgiving. Since it was my first year spending the holiday alone, I was definitely a little worried about what to do, where to go, and just how to generally spend my day usually filled with forced family encounters. Thankfully, my best friend also decided to stay in Tallahassee that year. We spent the day making food and watching movies. Having so much fun on a day I typically dread solidified for me that my decision was the right one.Â
While I loved my impromptu Thanksgiving the prior year, last year I wanted to try something a little different. With the University of Florida vs. Florida State University game that same weekend and my dad being a UF turned FSU fan, I decided to invite him to join me for Thanksgiving. Being the awful planner I am, I forgot that Thanksgiving reservations typically fill up pretty quickly, and let’s just say the late bird gets no worms. I quickly pivoted and scoured the internet searching for lists of restaurants that are open on Thanksgiving, and again being the awful planner I am, I chose a restaurant without confirming that they would indeed be open on Thanksgiving.Â
When the day came my dad, my friend, and I loaded up in my car and drove out to Nagoya, a hibachi and sushi restaurant that happens to be one of my favorites, and to my surprise, it was indeed closed. This sent me into a semi-panic mode, and I started looking all over the map to try to find the closest open restaurant. After looking all over the internet and driving up and down the road some more, we saw that Hooters happened to be open and decided to go in. They somehow happened to have a short wait time (which for Thanksgiving at 7 p.m. is amazing) and we got sat and waited on so quickly.Â
We ended up getting some great food, fun drinks, and having some big laughs in this dirty little Hooters booth. My dad ended up buying us all comical Hooters shirts which obviously ended in a spontaneous photo shoot in the parking lot. After dinner, my dad and I decided to take on Township for a few drinks before calling it a night. If you know me, you know I love Township, so I loved getting to take my dad with me!Â
While it may have not been the most “traditional” Thanksgiving, it was the best time I’ve had on Thanksgiving in a long time. While I am always so grateful for all of my family, these one-on-one bonding moments are what I will always cherish the most. While they may not all agree with my decision to not spend my Thanksgiving with everyone, I’m glad they are open to joining me for a little fun family moment where I get to share a little bit of the start of my adult life with them. No matter what your plans are this weekend, cherish the little moments.Â
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