Each year, families across the country celebrate Thanksgiving with various traditions that are unique to each family.
Many gather together to eat dinner and acknowledge what they are thankful for, embracing the traditional Thanksgiving foods that are so popular.
Education sophomore Riley Bigger shared about his family’s unique Thanksgiving tradition.
“Every single year, the Friday before Thanksgiving, we hunt our own turkey,” Bigger said. “There’s always a family gathering, so I’ll just spend time with people.”
Bigger also revealed what his favorite part of Thanksgiving is, emphasizing the importance of family.
“I enjoy having a bunch of people in the same area because then you can crack jokes and everybody has to laugh,” Bigger said.
Other students have much more typical family traditions that they enjoy as a way to celebrate the holiday.
Mechanical engineering sophomore Jim Anderson shared what his family enjoys doing to celebrate Thanksgiving.
“Usually we play cards. We play a game called Tank,” Anderson said. “We used to go to our grandma’s house, but now we just kind of go to whoever’s house is available, just to have dinner and watch the football game if it’s on.”
Eating dinner together and watching football is a common tradition in many families in the United States.
Dental hygiene freshman Isabel Tostige is another student whose family gathers together to share food and laughs.
“We always go to my grandma’s house for dinner,” Tostige said. “I think my favorite part is going home and getting to see all of my extended family.”
Several students have emphasized the importance of family in their Thanksgiving traditions.
“I think it’s good for a family to have such traditions,” Tostige said. “Just so as the years go by, families can grow closer together.”
Thanksgiving traditions are special to many students at Ferris, and they continue to participate year after year because they believe that family is important.
“It’s just a good way to bring everybody together and not forget about everybody,” Anderson said. “It’s a good way to connect with everybody around you and just have dedicated time to that.”
Other students, like Bigger, appreciate the routine that these traditions bring to their families each year.
“It’s good to have a routine,” Bigger said. “Life is kind of random, you know, and it has a lot of stuff that happens and stuff going at you, and it’s nice to have something that you can do with your whole family that’s structured.”
While so many students emphasize the importance of traditions in bringing their families together, they certainly have not forgotten about the food.
It is common for families to serve turkey at their Thanksgiving dinners, but some families prefer to change things up.
Tostige mentioned that her family typically cooks ham instead of turkey.
Besides serving meats other than turkey, some families have a unique touch on how they cook their turkeys.
“Usually, my dad deep fries a turkey, which is really good,” Anderson said.
Students are getting prepared to go home for Thanksgiving break and embrace the many unique traditions their families have before wrapping up the semester soon.