Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays. It isn’t as good as Halloween, of course, and it always seems to get overshadowed thanks to stores trying to be the first to get Christmas supplies out, but the holiday is a simple one. It lacks the gift-giving theatrics of Christmas and the white lies of proposed New Year’s resolutions. Instead, seeing friends and families and showing thanks are the day’s only priorities.

This year was one of my family’s more laid-back Thanksgivings. After a quiet morning, I ventured out to pick up a few necessary items for dinner. I went to my fiancée’s house for dinner, and we returned to my family’s celebration to spend time with relatives and have dessert. Holidays, especially ones where extended families get together, are some of my favorites. They give us a chance to reconnect and catch up with people we only get to see during the holidays.

Although Thanksgiving is only one day, it seemed like this year’s stretched a little longer. On Friday evening, my fiancée and I got together with a group of friends we had not seen in quite a while. Although this one was not a home-cooked meal, getting together at a local brewery was a great way to spend an evening.

Thanksgiving, despite being one of my favorite holidays, is also bittersweet. It signifies the beginning of the end of the year. All of the work and progress made in 2018 is nearly complete, and we get a fresh slate. New beginnings come at the expense of an ending. There are a lot of things I am thankful for that happened, or started to happen, in 2018. I can’t say what December and 2019 have in store for me, but I am excited to find out.

— Erich Martin, assistant editor