“I remember one Turkey day with my teammates, our team manager, Polly Jo's head in the oven checking on the Turkey while my coaches slept on the couch, hours of board games, and "family" dinners at my best friend Cori's house.   Though there is nothing I love more than being with my real family over Turkey day, if there has to be a substitute the skiing community is a perfect extended family. 

This past Thanksgiving we truly had a stragglers thanksgiving at Cori's house.  Cori is engaged to one of my friends from childhood, National Sports Foundation coach and 98 Olympian in ski jumping Mike Keuler. 

The list of Thanksgiving misfits reached about 20 and included Ryan St. Onge, Jana Lindsey, Kate Reed and of course myself as well as many past and I think present nordic athletes.  Parents are welcome at this Turkey day party as well and included my dad, Cori's mom, and Kate's parents later in the night. 

Cori and I set up a huge Thanksgiving table and we had all the fixings of course, but I think the favorite were the pigs in a blanket that were served as an appetizer as well as throughout the evening.  We played board games, had a few glasses of wine and other fun drinks (though we were hoping to have our first day of jumping of the season the next day, so we stuck to the non-alcoholics), we went around the table and said what we were thankful for (many included pigs in a blanket...including Ryan), Kate had a no hands allowed stuffing eating contest with another girl at the party, and we spent the rest of the evening with Play Station Karaoke, which was truly painful to everyone's ears”
Emily Cook – Freestyle Aerials

“The only thing that comes to mind is my first Thanksgiving that "I" cooked for.  I was doing great cooking away in Mammoth.  I wanted to make my Mom’s bomber stuffing, but instead of using the herb "sage" that you would buy in the store, I used some sage that I had picked from the desert.  Needless to say they are definitely not the same and when I tasted my stuffing I knew something was awfully wrong.”
Abe Teter – Halfpipe Snowboarder

“I remember going over to a friends house with my mom and eating over at her place and playing pool for as long as I can remember.  Then when I started skating, we would always be in Holland or over in Europe for Thanksgiving so we wouldn't get much of a turkey dinner.”
KC Boutiette – Long Track Speedskating

"Most Thanksgivings I remember celebrating the night before because my Mom would usually have to work at Bromley on Thanksgiving and I’d go along with her and ride all day. But I remember our dinners being awesome – Mom would go all out with squash, potatoes, everything and the whole family would be there.  This year, my wife and I will probably spend it with our daughter and my full family because Marissa’s family is down South. Who knows, maybe we’ll have dinner with my family and then head over to hers for seconds."
Ross Powers – Halfpipe Snowboarder

"We typically are on the road at Lake Louise and have dinner at the Chateaux, who puts together a nice thanksgiving spread together for us. Nothing to out of the ordinary, just another holiday on the road missing real family but enjoying the team which is our family on the road."
Phil McNichol – U.S. Men’s Alpine Ski Team Head Coach

"I always try to go home to Sandpoint, Idaho for Thanksgiving.  One tradition other than family, turkey, and sweet potato casserole is football.  And not just watching it, I mean playing it.  My Dad, two Brothers, sister-in-law, niece and nephew, even my Mom have a get up game of two hand touch Football.  Snow or not we get out in our field and play our hearts out. It's usually full of fumbles, missed catches, and trick plays.  But there's some definite NFL highlight material in some of our plays, and a lot of laughs. This year my Grandma is turning 80 years old Nov 26th, HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!  So all of my family (my Dad is one of eight) is meeting in Idaho for her Birthday, Thanksgiving, and a Family Reunion.  That  means we'll have subs for the football game."
Nate Holland – Snowboard Cross

“I have spent the last four out of the five years on the road for Thanksgiving through playing hockey either on the US National Team or my college hockey team, the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers. One of my favorite memories of Thanksgiving on the road was in 2001. The U.S. Olympic team was in residency in Lake Placid, New York at that time and Thanksgiving was is my favorite holidays so I was pretty bummed about spending it in Lake Placid. I was only 18 at the time and Shelly, one of my best friends gave me a huge surprise and told me she was coming to visit me over Thanksgiving in Lake Placid.

"I was pretty pumped about this news and that i would get to spend Thanksgiving with one of my best friends. The only problem was that we were both 18, which means I had no way to rent a hotel room for her. I asked my then roommate on the team, Tricia Dunn if I could have a guest stay with us in our dorm room  - which was a pretty unusual thing. Tricia kindly accepted. So Shelly crammed in our dorm room with Tricia and myself for a couple of days.

"On Thanksgiving, Jenny Potter knew a family in Lake Placid and they invited a couple of teammates and Shelly over for turkey dinner. For the couple of days Shelly was in Lake Placid to visit me, it was awesome. She got a taste of what i go through on a day-to-day basis training for the Olympics. Shelly got to stay in the dorm rooms, eat the food in the cafeteria (which every time I tell her I’m going to Lake Placid, Shelly always asks if I will bring her back some of the Pink Lemonade), watch a couple of hockey games and hang out with some of my teammates. All in all, i got to see one of my best friends from home while on the road with the team. Shelly and I shared some great laughs and got to be gong shows together - something we do best.  It was a good Thanksgiving weekend that I will always remember.”
Natalie Darwitz – Women’s Ice Hockey