Thanksgiving is a day where families and friends gather to give thanks for their many blessings. It is also a holiday best known for consuming large amounts of food, relaxing, watching football, shopping, and even putting up the Christmas decorations. Last week, I had the opportunity to find out how a few local families spend their holiday by talking a little “turkey” with the local kindergarten students. As you can imagine, I received some very honest and humorous answers from the young students.
I stopped by Mrs. Pelster’s classroom at St. Boniface as well as Mrs. Wemhoff’s at Elgin Public and was greeted at each with many excited and smiling faces eager to share their Thanksgiving holiday experiences. The first question I asked each student concerned the foods they most enjoy on Thanksgiving.
Sharing his full name and parents’ names before responding to my question, Jaxon Samuel Haddix, son of Andrea and Cole Haddix shared his thoughts, “I am most thankful for food, and my favorite part of eating is the food. The food I love the most is steak, and I always want more steak, but we eat at the gym, and there is no steak. I like the turkey.”
Another student sharing their love for turkey was Cayson Bottorf, son of Lacy and Steve Bottorf. Literally licking his lips, he explained, “We go to my grandma’s in town for Thanksgiving, and she makes turkey, corn, and potatoes. When we are done eating, we play outside; then my grandma just sits at the table for a long time, like fifteen hours.” I then asked Cayson if he thought grandma was worn out from all of the hard work involved in preparing the meal, and he simply shook his head “no.”
Celebrating the holiday in a more non-traditional manner, John Hemenway, son of Tiffany and Ryan, described his favorite holiday food, “We go to Lincoln and visit a person I don’t know, and we eat French fries we order online. I am really thankful for the food.”
As the discussions continued, a few students became more concerned with the foods they did not want to eat at Thanksgiving. For example, Mason Vanis, son of Eric and Lacey Vanis, stated, “Dad cooks, and mom gives him the stuff he needs. Sometimes we have roast beef, and it tastes really bad.” Briggs Heying, son of Spencer and Megan, added his thoughts, “I am thankful we don’t eat broccoli at Thanksgiving.”
Besides sharing their food likes and dislikes, several students used this as an opportunity to tell about the activities their family enjoys throughout the day. Ace Pelster, son of Matt and Kara Pelster, said, “Something special I do on Thanksgiving is go deer hunting with my dad and his friends that come over. My mom and my sister, Jules, cook while we hunt.” Thomas Suhr, son of Robert and Stephanie Suhr, shared, “After we eat we play outside and my dad plays football and my mom watches. My dad is a real good football player because he jumps over the other people.”
Possibly some of the most descriptive answers to this question came from Vanessa Buschow, the curly-haired, brown-eyed girl with freckles, daughter of Mackenzie and Alex, said “On Thanksgiving, I go to my cousin’s house. My little cousin and my big cousin are brother and sister. They live in Pizzaburg. We eat chicken and sometimes ice cream. It takes about 10 minutes to make. When we are done eating, we play, and I think the adults drinks wine. My aunt, which is my two cousin’s mom, really likes to drink wine.”
Moving on with the final question of the day, I was curious to see how long they thought it took to prepare a Thanksgiving day meal. First to share his thoughts was Cole Niewohner, son of Craig and Jessica. “Mom and Dad cook the turkey together. They take off the wrapper, then they cut it up and cook it. It takes about 26 minutes, and we eat corn and turkey.” Nathan Beckman, son of Matt and Tracey, admitted he had no idea how long it took to prepare the meal then added, “I don’t even know what dressing is. It is like orange stuff. “
As you can see, Thanksgiving is viewed a little differently through the eyes of a child. Even though each child’s experience may be a little different, it is easy to see they are ready to celebrate the holiday, and despite their young age, they already realize they have many things to be thankful for.
