My 2024 thanksgiving has been ruined by covid so instead of spending the day with family I am sitting on my lonesome writing for my neglected Substack. To force myself to feel the holiday joy instead of silently judging my unvaxxed family, I will relive some of my favorite thanksgiving and Black Friday memories with my favorite people.
YOTO
This thanksgiving story will be a real period piece set in 2012. Coined by my cousins, YOTO stands for “You Only Thanksgiving Once” and it was not true, since we have had several thanksgivings since. Several iconic moments happened this year, as it was the only Thanksgiving we ever had that included all of our family on my mom’s side in Omaha. It was so rare that we all got together like that, so we worked to make the most of it. The highlights included:
• Cousin Lucas discovering feminism - my 12-year-old cousin, Courtney, rolled up to grandma’s house in some yoga pants. Courtney and I were both the youngest cousins in the family, with me only one-month younger than her. Lucas is the oldest cousin, who would have been 16 or 17 at the time, I think. At YOTO Lucas famously remarked. ‘I used to love looking at girls in yoga pants, but now I just wonder if they’re somebody’s cousin…”
• “You and mustaches just work” - While out black Friday shopping, I got not one, but two crop tops with glittery mustaches on them. My cousin Anna gave me this amazing style advice to convince me to buy them. Oh, how I miss Rue 21.
• “This is probably the last time we’ll ever see him” - Our great uncle Ed came to YOTO looking and feeling a little sickly. As he was leaving the venue, Cousin Lucas loudly said this amazing quote while he was still easily within earshot. Ed lived on two more years.
Going viral on twitter and accidentally creating an iconic meme
If you know me irl, then you know how proud I am of this one. For those of you that don’t know me as well, I am the mastermind behind “yet another unrealistic standard for women,” and honestly consider myself a feminist icon.
The iconic photo was taken at my local Macy’s mere minutes before I had a mental breakdown. I notably did not take a post-turkey nap that day, and like I mentioned before, we always did our Black Friday shopping in the dead of night. It is easy. To imagine how grumpy a tired 15-year-old might be, but at least I caught the photo that launched me to internet stardom for the second time. Leave a comment if you want to hear more about my several scrapes with internet fame throughout my life.
2020’s Nerdy Surprise
Thanksgiving 2020 was obviously going to be cursed, but I had an interesting light at the end of the tunnel that year. That night, I was going to stay up all night until 4am to watch Ashoka Tano’s live-action debut in season 2 of The Mandalorian on Disney Plus. The pure euphoria I felt in the anticipation all day was enough to overshadow the classic nuclear family beef and zoom dinner party on my iPad.
New Orleans Friendsgiving
Not a direct thanksgiving memory as it happened the week before Thanksgiving, but there is one Friendsgiving that is uniquely distinguished in my mind. In the fall of 2019, my best friend Kathryn hosted a Friendsgiving party for our thriving friend group at the time. Her apartment had the goofiest layout with a long, narrow, rectangular living room and a party cove clear on the other side of the home. I was there with friends, we had tons of amazing food and drink, and it was notably the first time I felt like I was with the family I chose. Vibes were all around amazing at this party.
At the time of this party, I had recently inherited a fondue machine from the 1950s and it was definitely NOT safe by modern mechanical and electrical standards, but it had the cutest vintage aesthetic. I made an awesome thick Carmel fondue that everyone devoured. I was never able to recreate it.
Escape Rooms
This is not one specific thanksgiving, but we often do escape rooms as a family over the holidays. There have been several special memories in these rooms, but here are three of my favorites:
Dreamscape - We did a room called the dreamscape that was so easy we finished it in about 28 minutes. It was supposed to be the hardest one at the place, but we were dumbfounded when it just ended so abruptly.
Harry Truman - No specific story to tell from the Harry Truman room, we just love Harry Truman so much in our family. Love is probably too strong but he’s someone important to our lore.
The pyramid - the pyramid was fun because it was unpredictable. We had two guests with us, our former Australian exchange student, and my cousin’s husband (then boyfriend) whom we were meeting for the first time. Our team is chaotic enough as it is, two more members just made it such a unique experience. I’m retry sure no one cried that time.
Feel Better Soon, Family!!!!!!
I hope you all enjoyed my walk through memory lane. Maybe you’re a little jealous while you’re reading, that’s okay. Thanks for reading my blog :)