One of the best things about the University of Miami is the diversity of its student body. We have plenty of students from all around the country, and around the world. Each student has his/her own Thanksgiving traditions that are totally unique. People often make their own sorts of traditions for holidays like Thanksgiving, which makes the day even more special. I reached out to some of the folks on our Distraction staff to see what they find special about their own personal Thanksgiving experiences, read on to see what they have to say!
My family’s tradition for Thanksgiving is getting up early and going to church decked out in Nigerian clothes and high heels. After church, we go home to eat American Thanksgiving, which usually includes turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and corn. After we have enjoyed each other’s company and watched American football, we eat Nigerian food and go to a friend’s house to watch Nigerian movies. We enjoy traditional food such as pounded yam, egusi soup and plantains. At the end of the day, we just sit around talking to friends until 1 a.m.
– Abigail Adeleke
Because my friend group consists of vegetarians, we have a “Vegetarian Friendsgiving” every year the day before Thanksgiving, where we get together at someone’s house to eat homemade dishes, and drink homemade sangria. The best part is how creative we get with our dishes, aside from having the basics like corn, apple pie and sweet potatoes with marshmallows, we also have Pinterest inspired, picture-perfect dishes like green bean casserole, mashed potatoes with mushroom gravy, vegetarian lasagna and quinoa-stuffed acorn squash. It’s always delicious and the best part is that no turkeys are harmed!
-Gina Fleites
Every year, I tell my mom we need to get three pies (apple, blueberry, and pumpkin), or I’ll make some sort of similar dessert to replace one, and every year she gets annoyed with me because we usually don’t have that many guests, and our family has to eat pie every day for a while after Thanksgiving, so they don’t go to waste. Of course, I love eating pie every day for a week, so I always convince her that we really do need that much dessert for five people! After dinner, I usually fall into a food coma, wake up, and eat more to fuel my Black Friday shopping with my friends. After shopping, I eat more and repeat the cycle.
-Kristin Zheng
The Chabo family likes to celebrate the full on “American” Thanksgiving with a turkey, mash potatoes, sweet potato, macaroni & cheese and everything else you can find at Boston Market. The whole family comes over to our house for dinner, each member brings their own desserts, which could range from apple pie to pumpkin pie to cheesecake. Although we’re a mostly a Cuban family, Thanksgiving has to be the only holiday where we don’t roast a pig (we do put bacon on the turkey if that counts). As for the day itself, most of it is spent either helping my mother with the cooking or watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade — our favorite.
-Jorge Chabo
Thanksgiving with my family is everything, but an “American” traditional Thanksgiving. We mix some of our favorite Argentinian and Venezuelan food to create a multicultural feast. The main dish is usually Venezuelan tamales and ham. We used to make turkey and all the thanksgiving classics, but since I don’t like most Thanksgiving dishes like stuffing and mashed potatoes my mom would have to make different dishes for me, until they caved in and started only making Argentinian and Venezuelan food. I guess you could say I am the Scrooge of Thanksgiving. As for Thanksgiving activities, we mostly help my mom cook and watch movies after we eat. But I have to say that we spend the majority of the day eating.
-Kami Knaudt
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