Thanksgiving, our way

My sister and I love coming home for the holidays.

My mom knows how much we love following traditions, so she makes sure everything stays the same from year to year. For Thanksgiving, even though we only eat with maybe five people, we get turkey over 20 pounds heavy. We make mashed potatoes, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. Each of us have our own special dishes. My dad always makes his famous shrimp with soy sauce, garlic and ginger. I make the candied yams, and my sister bakes a chocolate cake.

We never dress up for Thanksgiving, and we all show up in various Christmas pajamas collected over the years. They all kind of look the same, so we often accidentally wear each others without realizing it.

After dinner, we're way too full for dessert but refuse to skip it, so kind of laze in front of the television watching a random family favorite (like Shrek or The Sound of Music) until we're hungry again.

Over the years, my siblings and I moved out of the house, and my dad was often away from home working. But our simple Thanksgiving traditions remained the same.

This year, my brother's bringing his fiancee to dinner. "I hope she brought pajamas," my mom joked as we lugged the turkey into the kitchen.