Thanksgiving brings the chance to consider and share what’s special to people from all walks of life. Six of Wahpeton’s youngest citizens are just as thankful as their family, friends and neighbors.
Daily News visited with three kindergarteners each from Zimmerman Elementary and St. John’s Catholic School. The youth, with ages ranging from 5 to 6 1/2, were eager to share the holiday spirit.
“It’s a time to share a meal,” Addison Nelson, 6, Zimmerman, said about Thanksgiving.
“At Thanksgiving, its name is ‘Thanksgiving’ ‘cause you give thanks and you put food out,” said Malik Tooley, 6 1/2, Addison’s classmate.
Henry Buller, 5, also Zimmerman, said he couldn’t remember why Thanksgiving is Thanksgiving, but that he does like the holiday.
St. John’s students all said they knew what Thanksgiving was about. Oakley Swanson, 6, raised his hand and said “It’s a holiday.” Asked what it was about, he said “Turkeys?”
Journee Joseph, 6, and Emily Schanilec, 5, both said the day was about thanks. They also explained what a thank you can mean. You can say thank you if somebody does a nice thing for you, Emily said. You can say thank you if you like everything in your life, Journee said.
Thanksgiving is a special holiday for many youth, including the six who spoke with Daily News. Addison said she makes things for her family, like hearts and pictures, that will go on a “sort of a medium table.”
“On Thanksgiving, usually we do somewhere, not people come to us,” Malik said.
Both Malik and Henry were looking forward to having sleepovers with family members.
“We were gonna have pie at Gram and Papa’s,” Henry said.
Pie is a staple of the Zimmerman and St. John’s students’ Thanksgiving meals. People come over to Oakley’s for Thanksgiving, he said. He was expecting “Um, 16 or so.”
“I like to serve turkey and meat,” Oakley said. “We have blueberry pie.”
Journee comes to her loved ones for Thanksgiving. They have a big family celebration, with turkey and pumpkin pie. For Emily and her big family Thanksgiving, the favorite pie is chocolate chip.
While the youth know lots about pie, some are equally familiar with turkey.
“‘Turkey’ means that you can eat it and it’s yummy sometimes,” Malik said.
Family members are the people that the Thanksgiving six are most thankful for. Oakley is thankful for his brother, Journee for her mom and Emily for her sister and brother.
When it comes to what the kids appreciate, answers vary.
“I’m thankful for presents,” Henry said.
“I’m thankful for my family,” Addison said.
“I’m thankful for a lot of things. I’m thankful that toy builders build toys for us to play with,” Malik said.
“I’m most happy about the holidays,” Oakley said.
“Christmas,” Journee said.
“Christmas,” Emily agreed.
Whether you’re in the Christmas spirit already or still enjoying the rush of Thanksgiving, Daily News and News Monitor wishes all of its readers a safe and happy holiday season.
