Thanksgiving is a time where families and friends gather together and share their gratitude for one another. Rather you have an elaborate Thanksgiving or a small celebration, each family has their own traditions. Here are some traditions from around Canyon High.

“My family of four is very fortunate to live within driving distance of both our families,” tennis coach David DeLeon. “We split the holiday with my in-laws, who are Mexican-American, and my family, who are Hispanic. Both cultures may seem like they are the same but are culturally fairly different. With my wife’s side of the family we typically eat more Mexican dishes (tamales, asada, elote) with a few traditional American dishes such as mashed potatoes and green bean casserole. With my side of the family who has lived here in Canyon for over 30 years, we do the traditional ham and turkey with sides of sweet potato casserole, rolls, dressing, gravy and most importantly pumpkin pie.  My father and mother do cook some of their parents’ recipes which is a neat homage to tradition. Festivities with my in-laws include loteria and other games. With my parents we will usually kick back and watch the Dallas Cowboys. Now that my son is older we usually play some football and just enjoy the outdoors.”

“Our family comes from out of town,” freshman Jackson McCord. “All the cousins normally hang out and have a wrestling tournament.”

 “Being a football coach, we celebrate a little differently,” head football coach Todd Winfrey said. “We always hope we are still playing and that Thanksgiving is small and we aren’t traveling anywhere. I’m pretty open to whatever to eat. Some years we do traditional, sometimes we cook steaks, but I GOTTA have a pecan pie and Green bean casserole with the fried onions on top. Jen gets everyone at the table to go around and tell what they are thankful for and say something about each person at the table. Not very exciting, but that is us.”

“In my family we go to my grandparents house and have a big thanksgiving dinner,” sophomore Hannah Thompson said. “After having dinner we just spend time together and play games until we all go home. I know it’s not much but we love it.”

“We always take some time to express what we are grateful to GOD and each other for,” principal Jennifer Boren said. “We have a menu that we make homemade EVERY YEAR no matter who is coming and where we are celebrating.  These include roasted turkey, homemade dressing, mashed potatoes, cream cheese corn, green bean casserole, homemade hot rolls, homemade cranberry sauce, sweet potato casserole, cranberry salad, Coke Jello salad, and Pistachio salad. Of course we always have homemade pies:  pumpkin, pecan, chocolate meringue, cranberry/raspberry and apple. We always watch the NFL games on Thanksgiving Day. We play board games and enjoy each other’s company.”

“I think what my family does for Thanksgiving is pretty basic,” senior Grace Knox said. “I can’t think of anything specific that we do that is different for my family. We typically spend Thanksgiving with one side of my family and Christmas with the other, so we get to open Christmas presents from one side on Thanksgiving. We used to always go up to Beaver Creek, Colorado, and ski and spend time with my extended family but we aren’t doing that this year. We always hang our Christmas lights the day after Thanksgiving.”

“My family gets up every Thanksgiving and runs the Amarillo Turkey Trot,” business and computer ed teacher Stephanie Bass said. “Everyone participates in a way that they can.  Some of them run, some of them walk, but we all finish. Then we go home and eat!”

“For the most part, it’s just about spending quality time with family for us,” math teacher Mandy Curtis said. “We always play games, and my husband’s family is hispanic so we usually play Loteria which is like a spanish bingo and other card games like Phase 10 or Skip-Bo. We always do the traditional fixings as well, but that’s about it.”

“My family has some pretty fun Thanksgiving,” chemistry teacher JaCee Copeland said. “ Every Thanksgiving we always play BINGO to win $1. It’s a lot of fun.”