By: Emily Fallaw and Maya Viswanathan
Ah, fall. That wonderful time of the year when it starts getting cold, the leaves change color, and, well… fall! It, like all the other seasons, is loved and hated by many. Some love the colors, sounds, smells, and (sometimes) tolerable weather, while some hate the (occasional) bad weather, raking leaves, and it being the Sunday to winter.
On the other hand, a lot of people can agree that one of the most important parts of fall is… pumpkin spice! It can be put in gum, coffee, perfume, and so much more. It- okay, I’m joking. A lot of people dislike pumpkin spice too.
Pumpkin spice aside, fall is quite the contradiction. It has such a warm color palette, yet is so cold! What else can you say about fall? Well, Thanksgiving is in it!
It’s getting chilly and the leaves are turning red, brown, and gold. Lawns are decorated with pumpkins and scarecrows. Now that it’s fall, everyone is in the mood for Thanksgiving. I always start looking forward to Thanksgiving with the first signs of fall. It is one of my favorite holidays. I love to make decorations, help my parents cook, and get ready for our family to arrive. This year my cousins are coming to visit us for Thanksgiving. They live in New Jersey so I don’t get to see them very often but Thanksgiving is a chance to celebrate and have fun together, and eat a lot of good food.
What about Thanksgiving decorations? They might seem frivolous, but I think they help create the festive mood.
We usually get out a fancy golden tablecloth with leaves in fall colors. I like it because I think that it fits the season well. I enjoy making Thanksgiving decorations out of fall items because it’s a celebration of the fall harvest and is very closely associated with fall. One of the fun things about decorating with fall items is that you get to go outside and search for them. This year, I found a tree that had acorns and gathered them. I intend to use them to make a turkey sculpture. Turkeys are a huge part of thanksgiving decorating. When I was at the store with my family a turkey dressed in a pilgrim’s bonnet caught my eye. It will serve as our centerpiece this year. We always have a centerpiece on the table in addition to flowers or candles. A few years ago, I made a centerpiece with sticks and pine cones.
Another big part of the celebration is the food. It’s not the kind of food you have every night for dinner, it is festive food. Turkeys are a centerpiece of the meal. At the first thanksgiving, the pilgrims dined on turkey and it has remained a tradition even since. Other Thanksgiving food traditions are pumpkin and corn. They come from the foods that the Native Americans used to eat.
We didn’t make corn on Thanksgiving for many years, but two years ago I convinced my parents to make cornbread. It was so delicious that we now make it every year. Last year, we made sweet potato pie. Every family has their own traditions. While, we make turkey every year, we also have a vegetarian main dish because my dad is vegetarian. This year, we are having a pie with a mixed vegetable filling. We don’t usually get a chance to get a special pie like that, but thanksgiving is a celebration that is very festive so we get to take the time to make special food. I can’t wait to enjoy the sweet and sour contrast of the cranberry sauce and smell all the spices blending together at the table.
It is now. The time when outside it’s chilly and dark and the ground is covered with multicolored leaves. But inside the table is covered with a tablecloth with multicolored leaf pattern. A centerpiece shaped like a basket filled with vegetables sits in the center. Paper turkeys hang from the walls. The table is filled with food. Turkey, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, squash, green beans, and cornbread. And their wonderful aromas float around the room. Around the table, everyone is dressed up. They smile at each other, laughing and talking about many things at once. Happy Thanksgiving!