Story by Jackie Newland, junior (ACJ)
Thanksgiving is a time for food, fun and great company. Many students in the agricultural communications and journalism school are celebrating giving thanks and celebrating with both friends and family this year.
Celebrating “Friendsgiving” this year is agricultural communications senior, Kylie Blythe.
“One night my friends and I were group texting each other and one of us was like, hey we should all get together and make a big dinner for thanksgiving! So of course we were all going to say yes to this because it’s hard to pass on a real, home-cooked meal,” says Blythe.
The group came together in order to cook a few of their holiday favorites. The menu consisted of chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, corn, stuffing, rolls, Snickers apple salad and pumpkin pie.
“We all cooked together and made our food how we wanted,” says Blythe. “There was some arguing about whose method would work better for cooking some things, mainly because we had all seen our moms do it differently.”
Blythe noted that Friendsgiving’s are especially fun due to the lack of added pressure that can sometimes come from going home for the holidays.
“We all got to sit around the table and eat a lot of food, just like we would at Thanksgiving. It was great to get together with everyone and chat about what was happening in our lives,” says Blythe.
Blythe also mentioned that it was a special time since many of them will be graduating this year.
“I would love to continue this tradition, but three of us are graduating in May so who knows where we will all be a year from now. It’s kind of scary and sad to think about,” says Blythe.
While for some this “Friendsgiving” marked the end of a chapter, another ACJ student is gearing up for a whole new kind of Thanksgiving.
Jacob Pletcher, senior, will experience Thanksgiving apart from his family this year.
“Thanksgiving this year will be different than normal years. Instead of having dinner with my family as usual, I am traveling to Indiana to celebrate Thanksgiving with my girlfriend’s family,” says Pletcher.
“Hopefully the 10 hour drive will be quick, because I am extremely excited to hang out with family and to work on my girlfriend’s family farm. The dinner celebration will be smaller than I am used to since my family is larger than hers. However, the conversations we will have is something I am looking forward to participating in,” says Pletcher.
Another agricultural communications sophomore that will make it home for Thanksgiving this year is Eryn Carter. However, Carter will not be beginning her break in the most normal fashion.
“This Thanksgiving will be a little different for me than in the past. I will be getting my wisdom teeth out the Friday before Thanksgiving break, so I will be nursing my mouth every day up until Thanksgiving,” says Carter.
Carter’s surgery won’t stop her from carrying on the traditions that her family participates in each year.
“One of the biggest traditions my family holds is the absence of a turkey on our Thanksgiving,” says Carter. “My grandmother grew up in the great depression where she ate turkey for almost every meal, so for years she would never eat turkey. My mother accommodated this when cooking, and we always made a meatloaf for the main dish on Thanksgiving Day. It may be strange to other people, but I look forward to it every year!”
Thanksgiving is revolves around spending time with those closest to you. It is a great time of year to celebrate family, friends, and traditions; then again, it is also a great time to start some new traditions of your own.
