It was a rainy morning in Eugene, Oregon, on November 22 of 2018. The gray clouds came rolling in and the droplets of rain started to poor. My roommate, Jaiden, and her friend Layla from Colorado, embarked the cold winds and rain with me as we tried to walk to our friend Taylor’s house. After walking for five minutes in the rain, we begged our friend Kylie, Taylor’s little sister, to come pick us up.
As we arrived at the Grigg’s home, the sun started shining for the cooking that was about to begin. The kitchen was warm not just from the sunlight, but by the warmth of Kylie and Taylor’s love for Thanksgiving. They made everyone feel a real sense of family even though we were away from our actual families this year.
This is Taylor Griggs, a senior who attends University of Oregon. She lovingly invited us into her home along with her friend Brendon. Taylor and Brendon are both vegan, so this was going to be a vegan Thanksgiving dinner. This was a work in my favor because I am a vegetarian myself, but Jaiden, Layla, and Kylie aren’t. However, Taylor accommodated to both groups and bought them a roasted chicken in their choosing.
These are some of the ingredients that were used in the meals that we all helped prepare. The meals that were going to be made included carrots, corn, green beans, potatoes, flour, pecans, yams, and sugar. Each and every person helped prepared not because they felt like they needed to but because they truly want to be apart of the making.
A dish that Kylie had prepared before we had arrived in the morning was a green bean casserole. She had used whole milk, green beans, and red onion crisps. Kylie was very adamant about making this dish because she has never had it before and really wanted it to be included in the Thanksgiving meal.
As Kylie put the green beans in the in the oven, she wanted to begin with the potatoes and I decided to ask her “What type of meals do you and your family usually prepare for Thanksgiving?” She responded saying “We prepare the traditional meals, but since so many people I spend Thanksgiving with are vegetarian or vegan, turkey usually isn’t a big deal. This year we made almost everything you would typically associate with Thanksgiving besides the turkey”.
Since the Grigg’s were trying to accommodate to everyone’s eating habits, they decided to prepare cornbread for the one desert that was non-vegan. I decided to interview Kylie while we were working on the cornbread because she was able to provide meaningful answers. This was an easy process to do because Kylie is very open with being interviewed and her love for Thanksgiving provided insight into the joyous occasion.
As she put oil into the bowl to finish the mixing, I asked Kylie, “Is this the first spending Thanksgiving without your family?” She responded “It was actually my first Thanksgiving without my family”, I then proceeded to ask “How do you feel about it?. She then responded, “I actually thought it was a lot more relaxed this year than in the past because of that, and although I missed them, I really liked the more chill version of the holiday”.
As Kylie, Layla, and Jaiden (and Percy the Kitten) were peeling potatoes, Kylie gave me the job of cutting the potatoes. I then asked “What are some of the traditions that is practiced at your Thanksgiving?” She then responded, “We usually get a lot of family and friends together and do a big potluck. We used to pull names for secret Santa on Thanksgiving as well”.
Continuing to peel the potatoes, I asked the final question, “What are your true thoughts about the holiday?” She responded, “Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because it’s during such a pretty time of year and you can get together with some of your favorite people and eat real food without a lot of added pressure that other holidays usually bring. I don’t necessarily like to celebrate the holiday for its origins, which I think can be pretty problematic. I instead just like to see it as a day to celebrate your loved ones and all that you’re grateful for”.
In order to get into the holiday spirit, Kylie and Taylor wanted to play classical music throughout the day. This created a peaceful presence in the air and was one of the best parts of thanksgiving. Some may think it would be a bit odd to play Christmas music this early in the year, however, the Grigg’s made the others look forward to Christmas back home and made the others excited to go home and see their families.
Brendon and Taylor worked side by side cooking all day together. Although the others helped, they were the main chefs of this years Thanksgiving meal. While Taylor was working on the yams, Brendon started to prepare the apple pie, which was made from scratch. He used an iron skillet because it’s an even heating source and it is harder to burn vegetables and fruits.
As he cascaded the apples into the iron skillet, they started to brown to perfection. He began to add in sugar and lemon juice to give the ultimate flavor. I thought he was going to make it from scratch, but he decided to use a pre-made crust for the apple pie. Once the apples were done simmering, he placed them into the pie tin and started to decorate the top of the pie.
Jaiden on the left and Layla on the right are both from Colorado but attend school in Oregon. Jaiden attends the University of Oregon, and Layla attends our rival school Oregon state. Despite the rival, we all got along with each other and embraced each other with a kindred spirit because this was the first time being away from home on his particular holiday.
We finally ended cooking around four o’clock in the afternoon and began eating at four thirty. This was quite an early Thanksgiving, however, it gave the whole group enough time to spend time together and watch Christmas movies after dinner. Later on in the evening, Taylor’s two friends came and joined us to watch Jeopardy after we had watched Home Alone. We were all definitely in a food coma after we had eaten, so we decided to go on a walk before Kylie drove us back to the dorms.
This year’s Thanksgiving was quite different for me because usually my mom holds the celebration at our home in California.We usually partake in many traditional gifts the incorporate a spanish turkey and stuffing. However, this years overall experience was one of my favorites because I was able to have a more laid back holiday even though I was technically working. The Grigg’s was able to exhibit the American culture of Thanksgiving by adding a kindred aspect to it. This year’s Thanksgiving was more about family rather than the politics of the holiday, which was quite refreshing. Having a wholesome family dinner, even though it was more of friendsgiving, was the highlight of everyone’s short break. The others who attended the feast alongside me were not able to go home to their families this year, so having the Grigg’s welcome us into their home with loving arms, made up for our families not being here. It was a long day of cooking and although we were all enjoying preparing the meals, we deemed it exhausting and all joined each other on the couch to enjoy christmas films and jeopardy. As the night came to an end, we said our goodbyes and thanks to the Grigg’s for having us in their home. All in all, everyone enjoyed their experience of this holiday due to the amount of love in the air that we all had for each other.