BY GRACIE LYONS
The first Thanksgivings were held by the Pilgrims at Plymouth in 1621. Over the years, families have adapted and passed down their own unique ways to celebrate the holiday.
A local favorite includes Cincinnati’s 10k Thanksgiving Day Race downtown.
Junior Nolan Buck said, “My family makes pies the day before Thanksgiving, and then we all go downtown and run the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning.”
Celia Caesar and her family partake in the annual race as well. “We started running the Turkey Trot three years ago. My dad and Meg talked Ginny and I into it. Now we always go together and run, and then we meet up after and usually get something to eat downtown. Then we go home where my mom has been cooking and chill until dinner,” said Caesar.
A few people find themselves with a case of the “Christmas itch,” struggling to celebrate Thanksgiving before they get into the Christmas spirit. For senior Kaleigh Hollyday, Thanksgiving is the day she and her mom begin watching Christmas movies. “My mom and I start cooking pretty early while we watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Then we watch ‘Miracle on 34th Street‘ because it starts out on Thanksgiving and then transitions to Christmas. Then we watch ‘Holiday Inn‘ for the same reason because it also talks about Thanksgiving and isn’t completely Christmas, so we don’t feel like we’re cheating on Thanksgiving,” she says.
A couple of other families find themselves traveling for the holiday.
Senior Lucy Hanley and her family travel to Warsaw, Kentucky to have dinner at her grandmother’s house. “My dad’s mom is a horrible cook, but she insists on cooking because she loves entertaining people and having us all in the house. So we suffer through dinner and feed the dogs under the table and take leftovers home. But on the ride back home we stop at Five Guys and chow down on some burgers,” said Hanley.
Likewise, senior Sydney Nicholson has been traveling with her parents to Kentucky for the past 13 years. “It started from my mom and dad wanting to see my aunt and uncle more. So now we go down every Thanksgiving and spend our morning and afternoon out on their boat fishing so we can go back to their house and have a fish fry along with the regular Thanksgiving entrees. Then we stay the night watching movies,” said Nicholson.
As for senior Analise Hinebaugh, she and her parents have flown out to Southern California these past few years to be with Hinebaugh’s older brother, Hans.
“Ever since Hans has gone to USC we have gone to California for Thanksgiving. We go to Disneyland on Thanksgiving day and we get turkey legs for dinner while we are there. Then my mom and I go Black Friday Shopping at a random mall,” said Hinebaugh.