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Life

The Truth about Spending Thanksgiving Away from Home

Allie Westphal
Hannah Hippensteel
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Winona chapter.

For college students, Thanksgiving is normally a quick break to go home and see your family in a relaxing time before the chaos of finals hit. My family is very small so it’s really important for us to spend the holidays with each other, whether my mom and I drive the six hours to my grandparents’ house, or they come to us. 

 

It’s usually me, my mom, my grandparents and my aunt around the table, though sometimes my great-great aunt and uncle join us as well. However, every job I have has been in retail and you know what that means: Black Friday. When I was in high school, the retail stores that I worked at were closed on Thanksgiving, meaning that I could spend that day with my family, preparing for the mess that I would have to work the next day. 

 

Last summer, I moved out of the dorms and into an off-campus apartment, which I was able to pay for because of my job at Walmart. For those of you who don’t know, Walmart’s Black Friday deals start on Thanksgiving, so it’s all-hands-on-deck with associates. Walmart has attendance points: if an associate calls out for an entire shift, they get one point, but if they call in tardy or leave a shift early, they only get a half point (4.5 points or higher and you are doneso). Because Black Friday is a very busy time for the store, anyone calling out on Thanksgiving gets two attendance points in addition to losing out on the holiday bonus. 

 

Last Thanksgiving, I had a mini dinner with my co-worker and current roommate, Bri, since we both had to work. It was a little different than years past when my previous jobs were closed on every holiday. I called my family who were six hours away enjoying a very scrumptious Thanksgiving dinner while I was looking at my modest cornish hens and pies. I couldn’t help but imagine myself around the table with them, instead of facing the reality of getting ready to work at the busiest store in town on the busiest day of the year. 

 

Even though celebrating Thanksgiving away from your family isn’t the most ideal way to spend the holiday, it’s also not the worst thing, either. It makes me feel happy that even though I’m not with them, my family is together and having fun. I can always call to wish them happy holidays or just to talk with them on the special day. As long as I know that they love me and they know that I am thinking of them, it doesn’t matter if I am six feet or 600 miles away. 

 

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Allie is a senior at Winona State, majoring in Social Work and minoring in Child Advocacy Studies. If a professional were to ask her what her goals in life were, she'd probably tell them that she wants to work in a high school helping teens. However, her less-professional goals are to own a Tesla and to shop exclusively at Target and Ikea. In her free time, Allie can usually be found scrolling through TikTok and fighting social injustices, both of which are known to make her late to work.
My name is Hannah Hippensteel, and I like to say I'm a Chicago city-slicker, but I'm actually from the 'burbs. I'm currently a senior at Winona State with a major in mass communication-journalism and a minor in sociology. Catch me enjoying all Winona has to offer: the bluffs, the incomparable Bloedow's Bakery, and not to mention, Minnesota boys. With a goal of working at Teen Vogue, Seventeen or Glamour magazine, I'm soaking up every opportunity to keep my finger on the pulse and share my personal voice!