Thanksgiving break: nothing but a tease

Thanksgiving at my house was the usual. A student from the local university none of us had met before ended up at our dinner table performing magic tricks, and as we stuffed our faces with turkey and mashed potatoes, Mom made another attempt to convince my sister not to sell her eggs on the black market. If you think I’m making any of this up for the sake of comedy, you are more than welcome to stop by next year and see for yourself.

After we ate our turkey, we all sat back and patted our stomachs as is tradition in America, land of plenty, and announced that we were so full that we might never eat again.

I always say this when other people do because it is important for me to fit in and not look like a fatty, but the truth is that I have never in my life felt so full that I have stopped fantasizing about my next meal even momentarily.

While I’ve noticed that my family stays somewhat true to their word and doesn’t eat again for at least the rest of the day, I generally only last about two hours before I find myself rummaging through the refrigerator, already ready to sink my teeth into another tender, flightless bird.

I think we can all agree that the best part about Thanksgiving is making dozens of delectable sandwiches with the leftover turkey, which is definitely more instantly gratifying than expending all the energy it takes to remember to be thankful for things like health and family.

But the worst part about Thanksgiving is that by the time I have effectively finished napping off all my food, the break is over and it’s time to take finals. Suddenly, it was 3 p.m. on Sunday and I realized I had a four-hour drive ahead of me and three papers due the next week that I hadn’t yet begun.

I wasn’t even home long enough to have to unpack my cell phone charger and recharge. As I always say, break was way too short if I leave with as much battery power as I came with.

I have about one friend left in my hometown, and I didn’t even have time to see her because being home for less than a week means that both our families keep us on house arrest.

Whenever I told my mom I was going to go see my friend, she would look at me with eyes full of hurt and whimper, “You’re not really leaving, are you?”

I would have no choice but to say no, of course not, and would end up staying in and playing Scrabble with my parents until all hours of the night.

In conclusion, Thanksgiving break is a huge tease.

Either it should last longer or winter break should start earlier. I think a good policy would be to end the semester when radio stations begin switching over to Christmas music full-time, which I incidentally couldn’t help but notice happened this year in mid-October.