Thanksgiving spoils more quickly than yams

By Leah Kind

I’m so excited to get a coveted spot as a Northern Star columnist, especially considering that we’re perched at the eve of an election slated to be the most important one of our lifetimes! I can’t wait to use this forum to judge the merits of the electoral system, to weigh the issues, to exhort the students at NIU to use their voices and get out and vote! What’s that? The election was weeks ago? It’s all been decided? I’m relocating to our friendly northern neighbor? Shoot! I’m always just this close to the cutting edge.

Well, now for something completely different.

The majority of folks from this campus recently returned from a (hopefully) happy sojourn at home for the Thanksgiving holiday. Despite the somewhat negative tinge that has besmirched this day (pass the firewater and Reservation Ranch sauce, please), most students think of Thanksgiving as a time of the three Fs. (Please don’t get pervy – this is not the Hugh Hefner Thanksgiving story). For all of us in the clean world, the three Fs would be: food, family and free laundry. Time to stuff yourself silly with whatever delectables you can get your grubby little paws on. Even the most humble of kitchens still can yield something more palatable than the usual cafeteria offerings. Food always tastes better when you have direct access to it, and luckily, my parents stopped swiping my ID card when I was in the sixth grade.

Naturally, it’s always nice to see your family. For those of us who come from households torn asunder by college departures, holidays can function as a sort of mandatory homecoming. This is not always a peaceful affair, but we try. In my family, there is a definite harmony chronology.

Day 1: We’re all happy to see each other, eat more rations than usual, fall into food coma.

Day 2: Someone is hogging the computer, not allowing someone else to check e-mail/do work/Photoshop picture of sister’s head onto dinosaur body.

Day 3: Leftovers beginning to turn, goodwill toward sisterkind and Sisters Kind quickly fading. Fight over the remote leads to dual stomping off and maternal declaration that next year, we can all go stay with friends. Let’s hear it for family!

And then there are the trunkloads of dirty clothes, things you forgot you owned, clothes that have been dirty so long they aren’t even in style anymore. I remember the first time I brought clothes home to wash. I was astounded to hear that you actually could do multiple washes – everything didn’t have to be jammed into one load! Incredible! I also enjoy the freedom to leave the laundry room, instead of nervously hovering around, lest the weird people down the hall make off with my assorted collection of high school track T-shirts.

Yes, Thanksgiving is a magical time. A time to relax, to breathe deeply, to silence those voices in your head reminding you how soon finals are. And, if you haven’t destroyed your fragile familial bonds with too much sibling squabbling, perhaps you’ll even be invited back for Winter Break. But don’t get your hopes up; your mom is still trying to pry quarters out of the washer.

Columns reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily that of the Northern Star staff.