This year, everything has been quite different for everyone with the pandemic going on; many things have been canceled or scheduled for a later date. Holidays on the other hand are not going anywhere, but will probably not be the same as they have always been the last couple of years, so let’s take a look at how students plan to celebrate Thanksgiving this year. I sent out a short survey to the whole student body here at St. Edward and asked simple questions about their previous Thanksgiving celebrations and how they think this year will look like, and here were my results.

To start things off I asked students what their favorite Thanksgiving food is and here is what they said:

28 percent of the student body said mashed potatoes, 15 percent said turkey, 15 percent said pie, 13 percent said stuffing, 7 percent said ham, 4 percent said duck, 4 percent sweet potatoes, 4 percent said different kinds of Mexican foods, 3 percent said cranberry sauce, 3 percent said green bean casserole, 2 percent said rice, and the last 2 percent said cookie salad. When asked this question senior Tommy Bruneman had a lot to say about his passion for sweet potatoes. “First we make them and pour marshmallow sauce all over it and I eat almost all of it,” said the senior.

Then I proceeded to ask students where they typically celebrate Thanksgiving and here is what they said: 31 percent of students said their own house, 30 percent said their grandparent’s house, 26 percent said their aunt/ uncles house, 7 percent said they go out of town, 4 percent said it switches between houses every year, and the last 2 percent said they spend the evening in the city. senior Daniela Esquibias went on to explain how her celebrations are always somewhere different “I celebrate it at my house or at a family member. We usually switch off every year, but this year it’s at my house,” said Daniela.

I then went on to ask students what their favorite thing about celebrating Thanksgiving is and many students went on to say the food was their favorite thing, obviously.

“One of my favorite things is getting to see my family and baking with my grandma and stepmom,” said freshman Lucille Foy. Many other students stated that they really enjoy being with their family while eating and watching movies. “I like being able to see my grandparents and spend time with them since I don’t get to see them a lot,” said sophomore Stephanie DeWitt. On the other hand, some students are getting in the season like junior Madison Sobota who said, “All my family gets to come together and celebrate as well as get ready for Christmas!”

I then asked students if their families had any traditions, they do each year, and here is what they said: “My dad always makes ice cream pies for dessert. They are basically just ice cream and fudge in pie crust, sometimes with the frozen bananas. They’re amazing!” said sophomore Grace Frazier. Many students explained that their families like to play games together, like sophomore Halina Haydock, who said, “My family and I always play games like Taboo and Scattergories together,”. Other families like to enjoy the outdoors and play games outside like freshman McKenzie Everett’s family who plays “Pumpkin Roll”, where they all participate in rolling a pumpkin down a hill to see whose goes farthest.

Lastly, I asked students how they think Covid-19 will affect the way they celebrate Thanksgiving this year.

Many students explained that they were just going to celebrate with their parents and siblings or not at all, due to the Covid-19 restrictions. Students who travel or go out of town explained how they would not be able to do that this year. “With Covid-19 we are unable to go into the city to celebrate Thanksgiving at a restaurant like we normally do. Celebrating Thanksgiving at home this year will be very new for my family and I,” said freshman Holly Tomaka. With social distancing and no traveling many students have come up with alternate solutions like freshman Edwin Ouimet who said, “I think we will set up a Zoom meeting to see everyone, but we will not eat with each other,”.