Q: Any suggestions for enjoying Thanksgiving even though I can’t go home for the holiday?
A: Sure, there’s no place like home for the holidays, but being dorm-bound doesn’t have to be devastating. There are plenty of ways to make Turkey Day your own and make up some residence hall rituals that you’ll want to make habitual.
Regardless of the building you live in, you have access to at least a small kitchen area on campus – albeit some are sketchier than others. And regardless of your usual Thanksgiving festivities, you definitely have at least one dish you look forward to every year. This is the perfect time to hit up that one auntie that always says she regrets not going to culinary school, and snatch that green bean casserole recipe right out of her oven-mitted hands. Even if you don’t consider yourself an amazing chef, you’ll have plenty of time on your hands and not many people around, so you can experiment until it’s as close to the real thing as you can get on campus. Who knows, you might even end up making better gravy than grandma.
Not celebrating Thanksgiving like usual is hard, but a good ol’ Friendsgiving isn’t that bad of a second option. Just off the top of my head, I can recall a few students who have also mentioned they’d be Thanksgiving-ing away from home this year, so I promise you that you aren’t going to be like Will Smith in “I Am Legend”: lonely, desperate and trying to conversate with the statue of Peter Canisius to resemble some form of human connection. Don’t hole up in your room – rally around the rest of the dorm rats who are probably just as upset about their situation as you are with yours. Say hello, wish them a happy Thanksgiving, offer them some of that casserole; even invite them to join your dinner table on the 28th. Personally, I’d take making a new friend over eating on the couch with a YouTube video on in the background. I can (and probably will) do that on any other given day.
Let’s say you’re not too fond of being in the kitchen, and you’re not the most extroverted person around. The last two paragraphs probably sound like a nightmare, and you sound like Thanksgiving – the holiday of cooking and conversation – might not be your favorite day. Why not use this as an opportunity to make your own traditions? Again, this is a tough spot to be in if every other year has been spent with friends and family, so do something special for yourself this year. It doesn’t even have to be festive, as long as it helps make the day bearable. There’s plenty of places still open on Thanksgiving in Buffalo. For example, you can replace turkey with a seafood boil from Aloha Krab’s Friendsgiving event, or treat yourself to some Black Friday retail therapy. You might also want to capitalize on how sentimental you may be feeling on the holiday and write some holiday cards for your loved ones. It’ll make your heart just a little less heavy, and make their day when they get it in the mail.
I’m known to feel FOMO when I know my family is together and I can’t be there; but this year, let’s be thankful for the modern technology that allows us to facetime into the function and see some friendly faces, as people pass the phone around the table. It’s a good reminder that – like you – they’re all missing someone too…you!
I hope you’re able to make the most of where you’re spending the holiday this year; and have the happiest, most gluttonous Thanksgiving you can.
Love, Ava and The Griffin family
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