“A National Cheat Day” is the first of seven Thanksgiving articles received in fall of 2023 from Wayne High School students. Five of them were published in The Byway’s most recent November paper. All will be featured online.
Thanksgiving is often spent with my mother. Most of my family lives overseas, and my siblings are both busy adults with little time to come visit. To make up for the lack of people, my mother and I just make food we’re craving, even if it’s not the conventional turkey and rolls.
We love stereotypical mashed potatoes, though. If anything, on Thanksgiving, my diet for the day consists of 90% mashed potatoes, and 10% dessert. So besides mashed potatoes, my mom and I love desserts. If there’s one thing that really brings us together, it’s the sweet delicacies. Whether it be pumpkin pies, brownies, ice cream, pudding, we will eat it all.
One time, a day or two before Thanksgiving, I had an intense yearning for chocolate. Luckily for me, we had an entire stash of brownies and vanilla ice cream, ready for our Thanksgiving feast that was happening in three days. I was craving chocolate so bad, that despite me being hungry, I did not have an appetite for anything but those brownies and ice cream.
Every time I opened the freezer, my stomach would growl at the sight of golden vanilla bean ice cream, as my eyes darted towards the fudgy brownies on the kitchen counter. It was late at night, around 1:00 a.m. to be exact. My mind was already dysfunctional from lack of sleep, and before I knew it, my hand reached out towards the freezer.
While my mom slept in peace upstairs, chaos was ensuing right below her. I sat on the couch, watching a show while scooping ice cream onto the entire plate of brownies, which I microwaved for that ooey-gooey texture. With a fork, I tore the entire brownie platter down in a matter of 30 minutes. Did I probably get diabetes? Yes, but I regret nothing. It was probably the most delicious plate of brownies I’ve ever consumed in my entire life. I truly think that warm or hot brownies with vanilla ice cream scooped on top is the best thing to happen since tiramisu.
Even though I was happy about my 1:00 a.m. feast, my mother was not. I woke up the next morning with her looking over me, a frown on her face. Her expression was one of shock, “Did you eat the brownies last night?”
I giggled, “ … Yeah,” I watched as she let out a scoff, “I was really craving it, sorry.”
She sighed, and I ended up not getting into trouble. However, my mom told all my family members about what happened that night, and news spread quickly. Somehow, many of my neighbors even found out about the brownie monster lurking in the A-frame house.
Ever since then, it has been tradition to make brownies and have ice cream during Thanksgiving every year. But unlike the first time, my mom makes sure to bake the brownies on the day of, so we will never have a brownie monster situation again. My sister still makes fun of me for the incident to this day. It is almost as if brownies and ice cream has become more of a tradition than Thanksgiving itself, and for that, I am grateful.
Because of the controversies behind Thanksgiving, we don’t necessarily “celebrate” it, but we do some things on the day that may be considered traditions. Like I said previously, these are mainly food-based traditions. If anything, Thanksgiving is just an excuse to eat an unhealthy amount of food, and I kind of see it as a national cheat day. Unfortunately I don’t shoot turkeys, but at least I’m enjoying myself.
– by Koyo Ito (11th) Wayne High School
Feature image caption: Anabelle P. (9th) Panguitch is at it again with a strange take on the Thanksgiving turkey — with a hint of her usual unicorn theme and enough color to permanently damage your eyes’ cone cells. No, nothing she draws is ever dull.
Read more about unusual Thanksgiving Traditions in “Getting Creative with Thanksgiving Traditions” by Hailee Eyre.
Also read “Thanksgiving at Fishlake” by Miles Hinkle.