If you're a high school student or the parent of one, Thanksgiving will be a lot different someday.
When kids are in high school and they see their families every day, Thanksgiving can seem like just another holiday. But Turkey Day is a big deal for college kids. It means heading home to fill up their tanks with family time. They get a home-cooked meal and time with their siblings and the chance to regale everyone with their college stories about dorms, classes and friends. They're thankful for their new lives at college and for the home lives that are always there for them.
Parents of college kids get to welcome them home and celebrate the family being together again. They're reminded what it was like to have a full house before their college students moved out. Sure, parents might get a little nostalgic for those pre-college days when the kids were still home. But the truth is that while parents will be thankful to have everyone back together, they're also thankful to see for themselves that their kids have become happy college students who are also a little older and wiser.
And nobody ever begins a Thanksgiving toast with, "I'm thankful I/you attend an Ivy League school."
If your family is about to enter or is in the throes of the college process, let Thanksgiving be the day that you don't think about the associated stresses. Don't think about the SAT or the trigonometry grade that won't raise higher than a B. Don't think about what's happening in the admissions offices and whether or not your essays could have been better. Don't think about how disappointed you'll be if Duke says, "No."
Instead, just think about what you're thankful for. It'll remind you how little the SAT matters in the bigger scheme of things. And imagine what Thanksgiving will be like one day no matter where you (or your kids) go to college.