Assignment 14: Ellie Phillips

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. My family goes to Columbus, Ohio where most of our extended family lives. Really, Thanksgiving is a three day event.

Day 1: Turkey Day. On the first day, about 40 family members (yes 40 and it’s only my dad’s side) gather at our farm. It’s a tradition to dress up for the meal and only after do we change into our “quitters” (sweats and tees). Before the meal we have prayer in the form of a poem written by our grandfather, each year someone is given the honor of reading it. We have to cook four turkeys to feed our entire family. After the big feast, we all hang around and talk. The majority of my cousins are in their late 20s and live around the country, so spending time is rare but fun. A unique tradition we have is naming race horses. We eat lots of pie and try to be creative as possible during this time. After we vote on the official names, we finish cleaning up and the parents head home. The cousins spend the night at the farm playing games like charades and sometimes hot tubbing.

Day 2: Hunt and BP. Still at the farm, our family gathers for another day. We eat breakfast sponsored by Panera, and get to work. In the morning we plant pheasants in the field. Meaning that we buy these birds from a farm, unload them individually from a crate, shake them up, and build them a small brush house for them to stay for a while. Its an interesting process, but we do this so that the birds stay grounded in the field only later to be found by the family hunters. Each year, the family and the many labs go pheasant hunting. More recently, we’ve done yoga then hunting. The girls in the family take a yoga lesson out at the farm, while the rest begin the hunt. It takes hours to hunt the fields, and then clean the birds. By the end of the day, everyone’s exhausted only to rally a few hours later for the charity Beer Pong Tournament. Later that night, my older cousins host this huge event with about 48 players raising lots of money for the Big Brother and Sisters Foundation in Ohio. The loud and action packed tournament ended after midnight.

Day 3: The game. Tailgating began sharply at 8am. The cold weather did not stop the entire Phillips family from having a good time. The biggest rivalry in college football: Ohio State vs. Michigan. We had seats together and barely sat down the entire game. Every other year we go to this game, because it alternates location. This year we got to watch as number 2 beat number 3.

Of course with all this going on, it’s no surprise that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I love spending three whole days with my family. Each day is unique but all are equally special.