My Favorite Holiday

Dear Usdan Community,

Spending Thanksgiving weekend with my large, extended family is always one of the best experiences of my year. The Brandts were raised to treasure Thanksgiving with family, and when my children first said that Thanksgiving was their favorite holiday, I felt like a parental success. 

As a child and well into my late 30s, Thanksgiving took place at my childhood home where both sides of the family - 30 or 40 people - would gather. Once I grew up, I loved the days after Thanksgiving when my siblings and I, and then our partners and kids too, would perch in the kitchen endlessly with plates of yummy leftovers and no plans. When my mom, the great hostess, died in 2010, we were adrift for a year, a very important way to mourn and miss her. Since Thanksgiving 2011, my cousin has embraced hosting the weekend with the same spirit: the more the merrier, lots of board games, and kids on air mattresses. 

On Thursday, my two children, husband and I will be the whole party at our Thanksgiving. After a different Passover this spring, and then different High Holidays in early fall, I convinced myself this year to accept with curiosity one version of each holiday being odd. We are adjusting our Thanksgiving by keeping the feast at the center, but reinterpreting it to include our favorite not-typical Thanksgiving dishes and to exclude the turkey which my kids, who love to eat, have never actually enjoyed. If you are still processing how to adjust, I recommend a NYT opinion piece Abandon Your Thanksgiving Script by Priya Parker.* She recommends we lean into an artform we teach at Usdan, improvisation. 

Though the big, boisterous, multigenerational Thanksgiving weekend is what I love and look forward to again in the future, I know at the core, what I need to do is feel and express thanks. I remain always thankful for having been born in a democratic nation. This year, I am remarkably thankful to educators for the risks they are taking and the changes they are making to keep our children growing, questioning and creating. Plus, I am thankful to you for reading these reflections, which have been a surprisingly therapeutic routine for me since the spring. To share my gratitude, I created for you a Thanksgiving playlist.

Listen to your T-Giving Playlist

Most of all, when I look back on 2020, I hope I will always be thankful for this never-expected-in-modern-times opportunity to be by my children for nearly every hour of every day.

Wishing you all a day of warmth, full stomachs and gratitude tomorrow.

Lauren Brandt Schloss, Executive Director

*Fun fact: my colleagues and I heard Priya Parker deliver a live keynote address to a hall of about 3,000 camp professionals at the American Camp Association Tri-State Conference on March 10, 2020. Remember those days?