Grab Your Jackets Travel Blog: Thanksgiving with Family and Friends

Well this is awkward...

I’ll just be honest, after last weeks performance I have no desire to go back to campus and watch us play our rivals who happen to be the number one team in the nation. Say whatever you want about me, I think that game is going to go poorly and I just don’t want to go through the emotional duress of putting myself through that experience.

Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports

Doesn’t mean I won’t still watch it from home, but I can’t in good conscience recommend going to that game in person if you’re a Georgia Tech fan. I don’t think it’ll be worth the time , the money, or the frustration it will make you feel. Hopefully Tech proves me wrong and leaves me looking silly.

Frank Empson / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK

With that in mind, most of us are still traveling this weekend. Thanksgiving is a time to get together with family, friends, or whoever you care about. Take your mind off stressful things and focus on the people and things you are thankful to have in your life. So I’m going to take this time to discuss things you can do for Thanksgiving with you family. Everyone lives in different places so I’ll try to pick general events. I can’t promise they will all be unique or even good ideas, but hopefully they can give you some recommendations of things to do with your family that you normally wouldn’t.

Things to do with the Family

Henry Taylor/The Leaf-Chronicle, Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle via Imagn Content Services, LLC

Since we’re still on a sports blog, we’ll start with something sporty. Get out a play a game of touch football in the yard. Take the time to teach your children how to throw the perfect spiral on the ball. Be sure to use some Georgia Tech players as reference points. Tell them they look like Calvin Johnson when catching the ball... as long as you don’t look like Reggie Ball when throwing to them. Make sure you also teach your kids proper pitch technique if you want them to run an option style offense. Feel free to do basketball and baseball as well if that is your preference.

Katie Goodale / USA TODAY NETWORK

Another option is to find a park to go on a walk with your family. This might be a little more tricky if you live in a big city like Atlanta, but it is important to work off that extra food. People gain 1.5 pounds on average, so make sure you spend some time outside to work all that off. Heck you could even turn your dinner into a picnic of sorts, bring the food and some disposable plates as long as you clean up afterwards. Make sure you bundle up if you plan on going outside, It hasn’t been too cold this fall but you should be safe anyway.

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

If you must watch sports there are plenty of other options. The obvious choices are the NFL and NCAA football games on. The Egg bowl has consistently been a mess over the past few years, the Raiders v Cowboys and Buffalo v New Orleans games could be interesting. For those who haven’t paid attention, Georgia Tech basketball has been doing pretty darn well this year. They actually play Friday night, so if you have the chance try to catch the game on TV or in person. The lady jackets have already played on Wednesday but you should watch them when you get the chance.

Mark Henle/The Republic

Getting more away from the sports (sacrilege I know) create a new family recipe to use during Thanksgiving. It’s a great time to experiment with new recipes. Sure you can keep using the old family recipes, but why not start a new tradition to make something new. After all, Grandma’s recipes had to start somewhere. If you want to pass down your recipes to future generations then you need to start trying out some new recipes and making new food for people to enjoy.

You can play some board games, set up a movie marathon, put on a play over one of your favorite holiday stories, get out the Christmas decorations, put on some music and get a dance party going, put on some old videos of Georgia Tech from the 1990 championship year, talk about your time at college... okay, maybe not that last one. What happens in college stays in college. There’s plenty of things to do this Thanksgiving. Get creative and have a fun time with your family. So have a happy Thanksgiving, and remember that no matter what happens on Saturday that we all have plenty to be thankful for.