Some people worry about Thanksgiving dinner conversations but Samual Burbage looks forward to them.

“We are usually unfiltered, and non-politically/socially acceptable,” he said. “When politics are brought up, the topics of sexuality, race, and immigrants take over. When those subjects are no longer interesting it goes into family gossip. My grandmother is usually the instigator of said conversations while my brother is the peacekeeper since he takes a neutral approach to things.

“I find these arguments entertaining, so I don’t mind when they are brought up in conversation,” said Burbage, a third-year Mechanical Engineering major. “In all honesty I laugh because they are unavoidable, so I choose to embrace it.”

He said conversations are always lively – and often involve a large number of people.

“With divorced parents, it is natural to have a bigger family,” said Burbage. “Five people originally, then on my mom’s side 16 people and on my dad’s side six people.” 

The one question that is always asked when an individual has divorced parents is where do you spend the holidays?

“Legally we are obligated to switch between households every year, this year we will be at my dad’s,” he said. “When we are at my dad’s, dinner is served at 5:30 p.m. and at my mom’s it is served at 7 p.m. I always look forward to the cranberry Jello.”

No matter where dinner is served, Burbage looks forward to the tableside conversations.

“The most jaw dropping moment at the dinner table I have experienced is when we ultimately found out that there was a scandal in the family tree,” said Burbage. “”My cousin’s dad gets promoted from cousin to dad, my cousin gets promoted from niece to granddaughter and my dad gets promoted from cousin to uncle.

“As confusing as that may seem, it was a dinner worth remembering,” he said.