By: Noah Epstein
I believe that Thanksgiving is the best holiday in the world. Sure, there are other good, and maybe even great, holidays. Many people across the world love Christmas, Halloween, Hanukkah, and Saint Patrick’s Day, and although I enjoy several other holidays as well, nothing compares to Thanksgiving. There are three simple reasons as to why Thanksgiving is the best. I’ll call it the three F’s: Family, Food, and Football. These three incredible aspects combine to define a truly special 4th Thursday in November each year.
Family
I’ll start with family. It’s the one time of the year where you get to spend quality time with your family members, whether it’s with your first cousins, your second cousins, your crazy uncle, etc. I consider myself lucky to spend the day with so many family members every year, from my grandparents all the way through second cousins. Now, I know there are a lot of questions asked when you see them, such as “How are you doing in school?” and a very popular question I was asked by almost everyone this past Thanksgiving was “What schools are you looking at?”, “Have you heard back from any schools?”, and much more. And, of course, politics. You think it won’t come up. You are even confident it won’t come up, and at the very end, when you least expect it, it comes up. Although all these annoying traits can be associated with your family, I still love the fact that we are privileged enough to be able to share a whole day with the ones we care for and love the most, and that makes the day so special.
Food
When you saw that this was an article about Thanksgiving, you probably thought to yourself something like “he must like turkey,” or at least some other typical Thanksgiving dinner food. Well, I am not a big fan of turkey, stuffing, gravy, or cranberry sauce. I think that Thanksgiving food is overrated, as a matter of fact. I just love the idea that a holiday actually promotes a dinner to celebrate a long time ago when people ate food. I know there’s a huge history behind it, but I’m going to be honest because it’s that simple for me. A holiday is devoted to giving thanks and eating food. And it might be overrated, but I still love big dinners no matter what’s on the menu.
Football
The best part of this fantastic holiday is football. Some people might enjoy playing football with their friends on this holiday, and I definitely do, but I’m mainly referring to the three NFL games that air every year on Thanksgiving. There’s a 12:30 PM game, a 4:30 PM game, and an 8:30 PM game. A perfect distribution of games that there’s enough time to talk to relatives during commercials and halftime and also enough football to enjoy, especially if you play fantasy football or if you’re a fan of one of the teams playing. Either way, I myself love football and always look forward to it on Thanksgiving Day. I always find out where I’m going to be for the next Thanksgiving so I can make sure that a T.V. is going to be available, as that is obviously essential. There is nothing better than relaxing on a couch after eating a big meal AND watching football to top it off.
Let’s review: there is a day each year where we get to spend time with our family, eat a large dinner, and watch football all day. Yeah. I apologize to the Christmas, Halloween, or other holiday enthusiasts, but there is no arguing this. I dare you to come up with a compelling argument against the juggernaut that is Thanksgiving. I’ll spoil it for you: you can’t! I hope everyone appreciates this holiday, as it is only 11 months away!!
Photo courtesy of marketingkeys.com
