Gobble Gobble!

Yes! It’s almost Thanksgiving! And with that thought comes this question? How do you celebrate Thanksgiving? I think of thanksgiving as a holiday spent with family, as most of us probably do, as well as good food and maybe some thoughts of the wonderful Indians and pilgrims that instituted the holiday unknowingly. But how do people who don’t celebrate thanksgiving think of it, or not think of it? Personally I will be very glad to be home this year for Thanksgiving because I know what it’s like to not be home. One year my immediate family and I went to Hawaii over thanksgiving. Granted, it was an enjoyable experience and I got a lot of positive feedback from my friends like “Oh my gosh! You’re in Hawaii for Thanksgiving?! You’re so lucky!” or “You’re gonna be tan when you get back from HAWAII over thanksgiving” or “Wow that’s so unfair that you get to be in Hawaii over Thanksgiving!” Those comments were enjoyable to receive and I was glad to know that people would miss me while I was unavailable over the break but to tell the truth, Thanksgiving was just not the same. I’ve had Thanksgiving at home my entire life except for that one year and probably some odd year I can’t remember so it was very weird to be out of my element on a day when I should have been very much in my element. I love Hawaii, it’s my second home, but home sweet home is where you’re supposed to be on Thanksgiving day. There we were in our hotel room with an awesome view of the ocean. Sun, Surf, and a hotel room in November. The food that we got was pretty good but I have to say that room service turkey is just no substitute for home made turkey fresh from the oven. After everything was said and done, I mostly felt like the vacation was rushed, and my thanksgiving experience incomplete. Yes, I was with my family the whole time but I’ve concluded there’s just something about the tradition of holidays that has to be there for the experience to be complete. I would suppose people who don’t celebrate thanksgiving just continue like it’s a normal day off, but that perhaps their lives are less complete without that important day of thanks.

Heat-Moon Question

Is it important or imperative to know and understand the history of the place where you're from?

While reading our third reading assignment from Heat-Moon about Miz Alice who lives on an island, I got to thinking about history. Miz Alice, an old woman Heat-Moon runs into, lives isolated on an island and has her own opinions about others on the island. She knows the history of her home inside and out. Personally, I don't think it's imperative to know the history of where you're from, and I'm talking about your hometown here, not your country which I think is imperative. While not imperative to know about your hometown, I do think it's importantto know just to better understand yourself and your family. After reading, I thought about how much I know about Dallas, which besides knowing SMU was founded here in 1911, and that it's pretty much the best city ever :), was not too much else. The reading made me want to find out more about Dallas and it's history. My mom told me the other day that Preston Road runs all the way to Kansas City because it was used by cattle herders to drive cattle up there to buy and sell. I thought that was pretty cool, and that it'd be interesting to know all about Dallas history.