The Only Cool Thanksigving

Thanksgiving has always been a boring holiday in my book. You eat strange food (I don't know anyone who eats turkey, dressing, and cranberry nastiness on a regular basis!) and if you already do your best to be grateful each day of your life, the whole thing feels kinda cheesy. Plus, when you eat the food...the holiday is over. Blah. The end. El fin.

In my lifespan, there's only been one Thanksgiving that wasn't boring. No lameness there. It was cool. It was the last Thanksgiving that Granny (my mom's mom) cooked us dinner before she went to be in Glory.

It was the Thanksgiving that may have been Granny's last, but it was the first Thanksgiving for two immigrants from Mexico we welcomed into our home that year.

Ya see, it was my senior year of high school, and my best friend was this amazing girl from Mexico named Magaly. To make a long story short, she wanted to learn English, I wanted to learn Spanish-and the rest was history. Amigas por siempre!

Being Mexican, Magaly had never celebrated Thanksgiving before. When Granny heard this, she declared in her slow Texas drawl "Well we need to fix that! Bring that little girl over my house!"

When I told Magaly the news, she was stoked! We invited her brother Victor, too and he jumped at the chance to go. Our whole family was thrilled at our "Mexican/American" Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving came, and Granny was so proud to host the first Thanksgiving Magaly and Victor experienced. Like me, she loved other cultures and hospitality. I'm glad her last Thanksgiving on earth got to be her happiest.

That friendship I built with Magaly and her family was the beginning of one of my biggest passions in life, which is welcoming and serving immigrants to the United States of America. Now I'm an ESL teacher and aspire to one day serve in a ministry or non-profit that welcomes these people to this great country.

Yep, Granny's legacy lives on in me. Andy and I were chatting about all of the cool people from all around the world we'll invite into our home for Thanksgiving! The Hazeltons will have the ONLY cool Thanksgiving on the block!

Thanks for the idea, Granny!

Granny, Papa, and I today :)