LINDSEY BOERMA
Living Assistant
Since the Pilgrims first broke bread with the Native Americans, Thanksgiving has become an annual celebrated tradition in America. In recent years, the holiday has been characterized by family get-togethers, football games, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and enormous feasts of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce.
Being in college and living away from home most of the year, Pepperdine students say they are able to better appreciate the value of traditions instilled as children. But, regardless of what traditions students observe on Thanksgiving Day, most agree that it is a holiday worthy of celebrating.
“Being as Thanksgiving is a tradition in and of itself, the holiday is just a great way to pass down heritage in our country,” said freshman economics major Andrew Dean.
Many students take part in the traditional Thanksgiving rituals, such as watching football and eating turkey. However, some students have families who have taken on Thanksgiving traditions of their own.
Freshman Kristen Anderson says her family strays from the usual turkey dinner.
Anderson travels with her family from her home in Reno, Nev., to the Bay Area to visit relatives.
“We don’t eat any meals during the day because we’re in the car, and then at night we always have a different dish,” Anderson said. “Sometimes it’s pasta casserole, sometimes it’s ravioli and then one year I think we had tofu.”
For many Pepperdine students, Thanksgiving is just the beginning of the big holiday season.
“For my family, Thanksgiving is just the kickoff to the holiday season, mostly because Christmas is really big in my family,” Dean said. “One tradition that my family has is that we always put up Christmas lights on Thanksgiving, and then typically during our Thanksgiving dinner we play Christmas music.”
Freshman Meagan Tolan said her family also uses Thanksgiving as a means of launching their Christmas celebrations.
“After we eat dinner, my whole family gets together and picks Kris Kringle, which is like a Secret Santa,” Tolan said. “Aunts, uncles and cousins are all thrown into the same bag.”
Some students will spend Thanksgiving in Malibu, instead of going home.
“It’s going to be weird spending Thanksgiving at Pepperdine just because everything will feel really empty,” freshman Martina Soares-Knize said. “I’ll miss seeing my family, but I’ll figure out a way to make my own Thanksgiving dinner.”
Soares-Knize will not be alone. Many students living on campus and in the local community say they will be staying in the area, cooking traditional Thanksgiving feasts in their on and off-campus apartments with friends.
Those students who do get to go home, however, say they are grateful for the opportunity to go home and spend time with their families.
“Thanksgiving will be my first time going home, so what I’m most excited about is being able to step on my own carpet,” Anderson said.
Sophomore music major Eric Wilson agreed that when students move out of the house and start college, they appreciate Thanksgiving more than ever.
“I think college students enjoy [Thanksgiving] more because in college there’s a little more stress than they’re used to, and also they’ve been away from their families,” he said. “It’s just nice to have that break in the semester.”
Despite where and how students spend this Thanksgiving break, they will undoubtedly cling on to their old Thanksgiving traditions and perhaps also be introduced to some new ones.
“It’s nice to have certain things in life you can always count on,” Tolan said. “I guess the reason that so many people practice traditions is because they can give people that.”
11-16-2006