Brianna Renteria
Thanksgiving is known as the holiday to be grateful for what we have. My family among other families celebrates this way too, but what we are most thankful for is the great food we get to eat.
In my family during Thanksgiving, it’s tradition to switch roles when it comes to cooking. Throughout the entire year during most holidays, it’s left up to the women to cook, but when Thanksgiving comes around it’s left up to the men to cook the main courses. This is done so that the men of the family can show their appreciation for the women’s year-round efforts.
We have many food traditions, unlike most, our main dish isn’t turkey or ham, its ribs. My two uncles are in charge of this. One makes barbeque pork ribs while the other makes beef smoked ribs, and there’s a bit of a competition between the two of who’s are eaten faster. They usually tie so they also have to make side dishes and see which ones are also gone the fastest. The oldest of my two uncles makes salted green beans, while the other makes loaded potatoes which wins me over to his side every year. The rest of the men aren’t left with much to make so they make simple foods. My stepdad makes his very popular mashed potatoes and garlic bread which is always finished the fastest, and my other uncle is stuck making carne asada or flipping tortillas on the grill for everyone.
Though this day is meant for the men to show their appreciation, the women still like getting involved. My mom always makes sopa fria which is a traditional Mexican food, and she also makes gelatin cakes to eat as dessert. One of my aunts makes champurrado which is a traditional Mexican drink. She brings bread as well to eat with the champurrado. Finally, I have other aunts who are in charge of bringing drinks like sodas, water, or alcohol. These two aunts are in charge of this every year because after a couple of hours into the celebration, they become the adult bartenders, which is very fun for us kids to watch.
Finally, the kids of the family can bring desserts like chocolate covered strawberries, ice cream, or bake cakes which is what I do whenever I have the chance. My family does love all of our food traditions, which are a big part of how we go about celebrating Thanksgiving. However, our most beloved tradition is standing together hand in hand, before eating and going around and stating what we are grateful for. Finally we hug each other and start eating together as a family.
Ashley Vera
Thanksgiving is a day where we celebrate with our families and friends. A day to be thankful for our loved ones. We gather up together, make or bring food to share with one another. A great way to make so many more memorable memories. There’s so many more activities and always different kinds of food. A way to learn and enjoy the food we have in different cultures.
Like in my family, as a Mexican culture and a big family, for food, we make tamales, relleno, pozole, and sometimes BBQ ribs. There’s a little of everything. For dessert, we usually buy a big pumpkin pie and some whipped cream for it. We also buy jello from my Mexican culture, at Northgate. For the drinks, my dad makes a delicious ponche with a bunch of fruits inside. But sometimes we make some aguas fresacas of horchata and jamaica. We also include some soda or juice. We always try to include every food, dessert, and drinks that our whole family likes.
My mom is the one that mostly does all the cooking, except the BBQ ribs, that my dad does because he’s the one that loves ribs. But my siblings and I always help our mom out. We help cut some vegetables, fruits, find all the right ingredients and locate the pots. While she cooks, and prepares other meals, we also help her out on the process of making tamales, which really takes up a lot of time and she needs of lots of help.
My whole family always enjoys the time we spend together because usually everyone is busy with work but this day is when all of us are together, siblings, parents, nephews, cousins and pets too. We also invited some family friends we grew up with so they can also enjoy the time and all of the delicious food we had made.
Melissa Cortes
Thanksgiving has many ways to celebrate it. In my family, we celebrate it by having dinner and talking all together at a table.
We usually start dinner around six or seven pm. Depending on how long the food takes to cook, my family arrives at my house. Since my family has six members, we all usually cook something or bring something different so we can share at the dinner table with the whole family. My older sister and her husband usually cook cheesy mac ‘n cheese which always somehow turns out burnt but it still tastes good either way. They also bring different kinds of desserts, like cookies, pie, cheesecake, and all of that good stuff.
Then there’s my older brother, who cooks too. I wouldn’t know what to say about him because each year is something different he makes, and sometimes he just doesn’t do anything. On the other hand, my dad makes really good rice each Thanksgiving, enough to eat for a few days and he also buys a lot of baguettes from this Filipino corner market which always smells and tastes fresh.
Next my mom makes the turkey and the ham which always turns out so flavorful and delicious because she adds a lot of ingredients and spices. Then I make the greens. Each year I do something different whether it’s asparagus, broccoli or green beans. I also make corn by mixing different seasonings or just salt which my family loves. But besides that, I help around by setting up the table. And I would say I usually do asparagus too because my family always requests me to cook that.
Above all of that, my family and I enjoy Thanksgiving because we get to rate how we did on the cooking and we all get to talk about life and just catch up with each other.
