Over the course of Thanksgiving break I took many of photos of things that meant a lot to me. I took 7 photos total.
The first photo I took was of our Thanksgiving and Christmas training pool. This is not our usual pool we train at, but it means a lot to me because my team and I come here every year to push the limits around holidays. Especially Christmas time, 3 hours every day for a week and 2 doubles. This year for our Thanksgiving practice we competed for the “platinum” turkey legs and for Christmas we usually compete for fuzzy socks using IMX scoring. The Thanksgiving and Christmas practices always start with a turkey call from one of my teammates, but this year it sounded like a dying turkey. Although the practices are actual death sometimes, I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
Following the Thanksgiving practice, I got home and helped my family prepare some food. One thing that may seem weird to value to many people is bread, but it’s something my family and I are grateful for. Every year for as long as I can remember my family and I have ALWAYS made 3 leaf clover dinner rolls, and they really are mouth watering. I usually have at least 4 on Thanksgiving. I will admit we do value the acutal bread because it is delicious, but obviously we value the meaning behind the bread more more. I wouldn’t trade this somewhat strange family tradition for any other.
After the bread was finished I went upstairs to my room to light a candle, which always attracts my cat. I tend to light a candle every single holiday that my family and I celebrate and every single Sunday. I also light them when I’m very stressed or during swim meets. Candles help me to relax, and of course they smell good. I’ve been lighting candles for years and I can’t even count how many I’ve gone through. I never even realized how thankful I was for candles and how much of an affect a simple thing can have on my life.
About my cat earlier, he also loves candles. Every single time I light one he comes to my room and sleeps. His name is Tigger and he is 6 years old. I got Tigger for Christmas in first grade, and my family and I have loved him ever since. He is very lazy, but is very lovable. He always greets me at the door and cuddles with me. He doesn’t really like my brother though. He is kinda fat, but that just makes him cuter to me. He’s an American Short Hair with green eyes and cute little white paws. Tigger is very crazy when he wants to play, he plays with my dogs, and by that I mean fight. He will usually fight the smaller dog, and will stop when the larger one comes to protect her.
After a few hours, dinner was ready! I went downstairs to grab food. My family and I use to eat at the dinner table on Thanksgiving, but we now all eat in front of the TV with our dogs, our cat, and our huge saltwater fish tank. Kinda weird, but it’s what we do. We have 2 dogs, Tundra and Winter. They’re brother and sister, but are SO different. At first, they both had blue eyes and were the same size. However, as time went on Winter stopped growing and one of her eyes turned brown, while Tundras eyes turned amber and he kept growing like normal. We thought they were pure bred huskies when we first got them, but they obviously aren’t. Winter is probably mixed with a corgi while Tundra is probably mixed with a lab. Tundra also has a red coat while Winter has a dark brown one. I’m beyond thankful for them as they are always there to cuddle with me and lick my face. Along with that, everyday when I come back from school they run downstairs with their tails wagging in circles and they try to paw me. The photo below is only of Winter as Tundra was outside.
By our TV is a HUGE salt water fish tank. The fish tank actually used to be 2 times that size, but we replaced it as we thought it was too large. I do not work on the fish tank or help clean it, it’s only my brother and my Dad. But from time to time I help with the water change. My brother was the one that got my Dad into fish and we’ve had this fish tank for probably 4 years or more now. Whenever we order new fish or coral it always comes with a cute little Swedish Fish! The tank is really beautiful, but sadly you can’t see the colors in this photo. My Mom is sometimes annoyed by the fish tank as it costs quite a bit, but her and I know it’s something my Dad and my brother both really enjoy and we like to see them happy.
2 days after Thanksgiving, I had a Friendsgiving with my swim team! There was SO much food, but there was more dessert than actual food… As a result, my whole team and I probably ate a bit too much sugar. The night was super fun and we played ping pong downstairs after dinner. We also played some games like Never have I Ever and What are the Odds. There were probably 20 people there but there are way more people on the team. I am beyond grateful for my amazing team that have been with me for the past 7 years. I have met so many people from swimming, some I’m sure will be life long friends. Even though I hate the practices sometimes and want to quit, I know I will NEVER trade swimming for anything in the world.
