In conclusion, what Thanksgiving has taught me about the connection between American culture and kinship is that the American identity of my family is reflected in how few constant traditions we have. None of our Thanksgiving traditions are set in stone: some years we go around in a circle and say what we’re thankful for, others we ride a bike, others we invite people from foreign countries, or change the way that the food is served and presented.

To me, this reflects our American heritage. America is a conglomerate nation, for the most part made up of many different people from different backgrounds, and my family is no exception. My family was formed by a vast mixing of different cultures brought to America by immigrants, who carried with them different traditions, forgetting some, and creating others. These traditions were blended into each other, and continue to change every year, making us unafraid to add new ones to our family. Now that my family is living in a new neighborhood, they will continue changing how they celebrate Thanksgiving, learning to put up Christmas lights on the eve of that day, becoming a part of the kinship of the neighborhood. This, to me, reflects the mutability of American culture. We have a common, overarching holiday, but within that holiday, there are an infinite amount of ways to celebrate it. As for my kinship group, the only constant tradition that we keep is that Thanksgiving is a time of year to reunite with our family, whether they are family by blood tie or by choice.