By Raegan Scharfetter/managing editor
NW student Darien Wirt said his family keeps its Thanksgiving celebration to the basics.
“It’s all about family time, food and watching sports,” he said.
SE student Mauricio Arroyo’s family does traditional American cooking along with tamales, fajitas and a customized hot chocolate made by his mother.
“My mom cooks dinner for us all on Thanksgiving,” Arroyo said. “She makes a lot of food, and we invite a lot of people over to watch TV and enjoy her special version of hot chocolate.”
Wirt and Arroyo are among many students with different Thanksgiving traditions. Yet even with TCC’s diverse community, many students said they’ll spend the holiday the same way as most Americans.
For South student Maria Gabriel, her family’s Thanksgiving is about football, she said.
“Since my brothers and sisters don’t live with us, they come over and we watch the Cowboys game together,” she said. “My favorite part is watching the Cowboys game and watching them win because I get to rub it in my brothers’ faces because they don’t like the Cowboys.”
For South student Jennifer Contreras, Thanksgiving traditions are a little more standard except for the main course, she said.
“My family gets together at someone’s house, and we eat,” Contreras said. “There’s lots of music and dancing. We don’t usually eat turkey, though. We have tamales and posole and lots of desserts.”
Contreras isn’t sure where her family’s traditions originate, but Thanksgiving is her favorite holiday, she said, because it’s always nice to see her family.
NE student Gillie Corwin hangs out with family to cook turkey, make dressing and have fun, he said.
“We’ve been doing them since I can remember,” Corwin said. “I loved being able to see family that I haven’t seen in a long time. My mom makes the best stuffing on the entire planet, and she only makes it once a year.”
NW student Mackenna Mitchell and her family also value food during Thanksgiving. Mitchell’s dad created his own brisket recipe, and now it’s the dish everyone requests for every event, she said.
“We wake up to a good smelling house,” Mitchell said. “He takes it out and has to carve it to get rid of the fat, and we just sit there eating and eating. I think it’s his legacy, honestly, that brisket.”
Family time is another valued role in Mitchell’s family. She usually starts the day with breakfast and then goes to three different homes, she said.
“I usually go to my grandma’s, then to my aunt’s, then to my mom’s friend’s house,” Mitchell said.
However, not every family celebrates picture-perfectly. NW student Haley Akers said her family tradition is conflict.
“I’m in a fight right now with my family,” she said. “My parents are fighting over whose house I go to. I tell one place, I get yelled at because I’m a bad daughter.”
And for students like SE student Jewel Shapiro, Thanksgiving events depend on the current situation.
“It’s a different situation every year,” she said. “Sometimes, we go to Houston to my grandma’s and she’ll cook, or we’ll stay home and my mom and her friends will cook, and we’ll all watch the game.”
Although the location is different each year, Shapiro’s family still cooks the same recipe, like her grandma’s cranberry sauce and sweet potatoes with marshmallows, she said.
“My favorite part of it all is that no matter the situation, we all hold hands before we eat, and we give thanks for everything,” Shapiro said. “We’re so connected with one another.”
Dylan Bradley, Richard Marmolejo and Michael Foster-Sanders also contributed to this story.
