Thanksgiving is a day that many students enjoy simply because it is a break from school, but some see it as a true family holiday. Depending on cultures and varying ages, people view this holiday differently.
Within the Prep community, there is a large variety of unique Thanksgiving traditions and celebrations. We sat down with Frau Khouri, a German teacher here at Prep, who grew up in Germany. Frau Khouri explained that their version of Thanksgiving in Germany, known as Erntedankfest, places a greater emphasis on community and farming than only on food and family gatherings.
Khouri said, “In Germany it was to see all the decoration at the churches, because in Germany you focus less on the meal, but you have beautiful parades going through the town and churches being decorated and having the harvest outside for display so that everyone can appreciate what nature gave us.”
This was Khouri’s Ernterdankefest tradition in Germany, but now that she lives in the United States, the way she celebrates this holiday has changed. Khouri now gathers with her husband’s family and makes new traditions, like going for hikes and cooking with her extended family. “I love the combination of going outside and getting exercise and getting colder, and then the coziness of inside and the smells and looking into the windows and the picturesque families. … So pretty.”
While Frau Khouri brings a touch of Germany to her celebrations, other teachers at Prep have their own unique traditions. For Mr. Chism, who personally loves Thanksgiving, a favorite tradition of his is carving the turkey. “I don’t know if I like it so much, I always mess up. … It’s my favorite tradition, but I never get it right.”
Even if Chism cannot carve a turkey, he proudly told us that he makes an amazing apple pie. He described, “It is a secret, secret, family recipe that goes back four generations. This apple pie will bring tears to your eyes.”
Cooking is an essential part of Thanksgiving for Chism and his family since he and his wife cook together with the help of his two sons, who come back home for this holiday to spend time with their family. He emphasized how Thanksgiving is a time for him and his family to make and reminisce old and new memories that they make this time each year.
Though he loves cooking on Thanksgiving, Chism has a strong opinion on one Thanksgiving food, sweet potato casserole: “No marshmallows! Marshmallows are the devil.”
Khouri and Chism’s traditions for Thanksgiving show the diversity in which our faculty come from as well as our school as a whole. And yes, many students enjoy Thanksgiving because of the break it gives them from school, but even Chism who loves Thanksgiving and the values this day holds, agrees there is “No such thing as too long, you can never have too long of a break.”
