During our week off for Thanksgiving break, we asked our student editors to describe their family traditions and family meals. Some provided delicious family recipes and others simply detailed the events of their week off school. Here is some of the work provided.

While I Was Gone . . .

When my mom was living in Atlanta as a grad student, she got this amazing stuffing recipe. It was her first Thanksgiving without her family, so she probably expected to spend it alone. Luckily for her, one of her married friends invited her to their feast. This dish was served and my mom asked for the recipe. This kind of stuffing takes all day to cook, but in my opinion it’s worth it for the crispy, flavorful Thanksgiving treat.

by Alex Coats

Crunchy Bread Dressing with Bacon and Leeks (A.K.A. Stuffing)

Ingredients:

1-lb. loaf rustic country bread, cut into 1/2-inch

pieces

8 thick-cut bacon slices, about 8 oz. total, cut

into 1/4-inch dice

2 Tbs. unsalted butter

3 leeks, white portion only, halved lengthwise,

sliced crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices and

rinsed well

2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch dice

1 garlic clove, minced

Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

1 cup turkey or chicken stock, plus more as

needed

1 cup milk

1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme

1 cup chopped green onions, green portion only

Directions:

Preheat an oven to 375ºF. Butter a 13-by-9-inch baking dish.

Spread the bread out on a baking sheet and toast in the oven until lightly golden, 15 to 20 minutes. Set aside.

In a large fry pan over medium heat, fry the bacon, stirring occasionally, until crispy and golden, 4 to 6 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a paper towel-lined plate. Set aside.

In another large fry pan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the leeks, carrots and garlic and sauté, stirring occasionally, until tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

In a large bowl, combine the bread, bacon, the leek mixture, the 1 cup stock, milk, thyme, green onions, salt and pepper and stir gently to mix. If the dressing seems dry, add more stock as needed.

Transfer the dressing to the prepared baking dish and bake until crispy and golden, about 1 hour. Serves 10 to 12.

Note: If desired, you can pack the dressing loosely in the body and neck cavities of the turkey. Secure the neck flap with kitchen string or pin it to the back with toothpicks or trussing pins. Tying the legs together will help hold the stuffing in the body cavity. For turkeys weighing 16 lb. or less, add 30 minutes to the total roasting time. For turkeys weighing more than 16 lb., add 1 hour to the total roasting time. Williams-Sonoma Kitchen.

Double Thanksgivings

by Coraline Durham

Thanksgiving is different for everybody, some spend the time just hanging out with friends and family, others have huge reunions with loads of different people, but we all have one thing in common, we think about the people in our lives that we love and cherish.

My thanksgiving was split into two, with one being a big family reunion and one being a relaxing dinner with my family. My family does not have very many thanksgiving traditions, we have different food each year, and go different places each year.

My first dinner was a very traditional meal with turkey and mashed potatoes. My grandparents, uncle, aunt, and cousin came, each person brought their own side or dessert. The family that hosted it this year was my uncle. He cooked almost everything before we got there. He cooked a huge turkey with fruits and seasonings inside, to make the flavors to die for. Whenever it was time to eat, there were huge plates with every item he had cooked, you were able to grab anything you wanted. There was perfectly creamy mac and cheese, and the sweet potatoes were cooked to perfection. At the end we all hung out together. Most of the recipes I can not share because of copyright.

My next dinner was hosted the day after Thanksgiving, it was at my own home with only the people that lived with me. We had a very diverse meal with a traditional Mexican dish called pozole, we also had spring rolls, sushi, and mac and cheese. The whole meal was cooked to perfection, with the best amount of seasoning ever. We made lots of sides so you could basically make your own soups and mac and cheese. Ours was much more quiet and relaxing, with much less people. We ate a lot of food and after we were finished eating we enjoyed a family movie night. For dessert we made a fruit salad and monkey bread. The rest of the night was very calm and relaxing.

The dinners may have been very different but they were wonderful in their own ways. With different people at each one we enjoyed both in our own ways. Nevertheless we all had a wonderful time. But we still have to remember that Thanksgiving is not all about food, it's about remembering who you're thankful for and loving and caring for your family.

My Week

by Fay Kipp

Saturday - The first day of break. Today my brother has a hockey game and I have to run a mile for scouts so I can rank up to a Tenderfoot.

Sunday - I did nothing…. Well actually that isn’t true. I lounged around and watched One Piece almost all day.

Monday - Today I had scouts and ranked up to a Tenderfoot! Yay!

Tuesday - I did nothing but work on this and play board games. Boring!

Wednesday - I slept wayyyyy too late so we were late to a free movie at the Lynn library(The movie was Despicable Me). I worked on this and practiced guitar chords. My uncle who lives in Columbia came over for Thanksgiving. I forgot to mention that I haven’t practiced my music for orchestra at all!! I wonder if Mrs. Morrison will behead me?

Thursday - Thanksgiving day at last! I will divide the day up into different time chunks. 2:00 a.m. - I read Wings of Fire, Escaping Peril, Max and the Midnights, and Wings of Fire: The Dragonet Prophecy. 5:00 a.m. - I watched TV with the volume turned off so I wouldn’t wake up anyone but….. It didn’t work. HOW DID MY BROTHER HEAR ME!? 8:00 a.m. - My dad finally woke up and the first thing he said was “When did you go to bed?” he asked. But the thing was…. I never fell asleep. Yep that’s right the day of thanksgiving I pulled an all-nighter. Naturally, my dad wasn’t too happy when I told him that. 10:00 a.m. - The Macy’s Day Parade started. I fell asleep around 7 minutes in. Then, after I woke up I fell asleep again. 3:00 p.m. - I helped my dad prepare dinner. I helped him with the apple pie, the duck (That's right my family ate duck on thanksgiving), the glaze for the ham, and the carrots. 8:00 p.m. I worked on this and regretted eating 3 slices of apple pie.

Friday - Woke up at maybe 8:00 a.m. and watched TV later my brother had hockey so I stayed at home and played Minecraft. Later we all watched A Battle Of Songbirds and Snakes.

Saturday - Today my entire family squeezed into our tiny car and drove to the Fulton library to paint mugs. I made a cat mug and a squid mug. Later we watched a superman movie.

Sunday - I have to go with my family to St. Louis for my brother's hockey game.

Bakery Tasting Chocolate Cupcakes

by Makayla Nelson

My Thanksgiving break is anything but peaceful. I actually have three Thanksgiving celebrations. I have one with my mom’s parents, one with my dad’s parents and his older brother, and one with my dad’s parents and his younger brother. My family always ends up making too much food, way too much to eat. One Thanksgiving meal can even last us for a week. One Thanksgiving tradition we have at my Grammy’s house is to write down what we are thankful for, then try and guess who wrote what. My dad’s mom, my grammy, once told me a funny story. She said that when she and her cousin were kids, after they ate, they saw where their mom put the rolls on the table. To sustain the food, they put a tablecloth over all the food to keep it fresh. Grammy and her cousin hid under the table, reaching their hand under the tablecloth to grab all the rolls and eat them. My grammy gave me the recipe to bake one of my favorite desserts, bakery tasting chocolate cupcakes. This is the recipe:

1. Take a boxed cake mix

2. Add one to two eggs depending on how rich you want it

3. Use melted butter instead of oil and double the amount

4. Use milk instead of water

5. Add two teaspoons of vanilla

6. Fill the cups three-fourths full

7. Preheat the oven to three-fifty, then reduce it to three twenty-five when inserting cupcakes and bake for twenty-five minutes

8. Enjoy!

Just Say Thanks

by Sumaiya Siddiqui

This isn’t a poem about what I did over Thanksgiving break.

My Thanksgiving break was pretty boring so…. drumroll please….

Instead, I’m going to write about Thanksgiving itself.

Let’s give thanks to the whole world!!!

No, really, I mean it.

We need to say ‘thank you’ to every human being living on this planet.

Or, at least, the ones that we know.

Do you see that person driving that truck?

The type of trucks that drop salt on the road to melt snow.

In a way, they are helping you.

Now you can drive on the road safely, though it means we don’t get to miss school the next day.

But still, we should at least say ‘thanks’ to them if we get the chance.

I don’t know if Black Friday matters to your families, but it matters a lot to mine.

We ordered things from Amazon, and they were delivered to our front door within a few days.

I’m sure some of your families had a similar deal.

That ‘delivery person’ who delivered your package decided that bringing your package to your house was more important than anything else they could have been doing at that particular time.

If it weren’t for them, you would have had to go pick up that package.

It could have cost you a lot of time, but because of them, it didn’t.

So why don’t we say ‘thank you’ to them?

Some of us hate school. We hate it.

And even though I’m not a teacher myself, I’m sure that even they don’t want to be here every single day either.

Some days aren’t just the best.

But still, our teachers come to school to teach us, whether they’re in a good mood or not.

Without their teaching, are we ever going to graduate? Go to college? Get a job? Live life?

I don’t know about you, but I think we should say ‘thank you’ to them.

We don’t only have to thank the people that work to make our lives easier.

What about our parents?

And if not biological parents, then it would be our grandparents, foster parents, guardians.

My point is, everyone has someone who looks after them.

And that someone takes care of you until you are ready to take care of yourself.

Do we say ‘thank you’ to them?

This is becoming a long poem, and well.. I don’t really think it’s a poem anymore.

Anyways, let's get to the point of this… extremely long poem.

Thanksgiving isn’t just eating a lot of food with your family, or skipping school for a week.

It’s Givingthanks.

It literally just means Giving Thanks.

I know you can speak, so I’m just going to ask you for a simple favor.

Say thanks.

One word. I’m sure you can say one word to someone who does something good for you.

Give thanks.

Just say thanks.