Our Non-Traditional, Traditional Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving was one of the most unique Thanksgivings that Ben and I have experienced together. It was the first time in either of our lives that we spent Thanksgiving Day outside of our families' homes to attend a Dallas Cowboys football game.

My mind was never more conflicted. On the one side, the tradition of a Dallas Cowboys Thanksgiving Day game started back in 1966, to follow in step with the Thanksgiving tradition the Detroit Lions created in 1934. Before the inception of the NFL, college football games were a must-attend event on Thanksgiving Day, starting back in the late 1800s. So honestly, football on Thanksgiving Day is just about as strong of an American tradition as the Pilgrims founding Plymouth Plantation.

However, on the other side of things, where is my green bean casserole? And why can't I wear stretchy pants to the game? :) Instead of being at home or staying at our families' homes, we spent the weekend in a cabin near Ben's parents just outside of Dallas with the beagle. So it was a brand new feeling to be on the road as tourists over the Thanksgiving weekend, visiting sites (like the Bush Center) and eating out versus in.

But in short, the crux of the matter is this: living in America gives you the opportunities to do whatever you want to do over the Thanksgiving weekend. In the books I've spent reading about the Pilgrims this past month of November, the entire purpose of the Pilgrims risking their lives to found a plantation was so they could live exactly how they wanted to live: surrounded by faith and family. This was a freedom that they were not given in their homeland.

So as this Thanksgiving season comes to a close, I was able to bring my two selves together, enjoying the fact that I live in a country that provides me with unimaginable freedoms to live and worship as I please, spending time with family, and of course, eating as much food as I want in a state that never serves portions small!

Happy Thanksgiving from Texas!