COLUMN: 10 things to help you survive the Thanksgiving holiday

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Going home for Thanksgiving is a time to empty your head from the stress of school and fill your belly with turkey and pumpkin pie — but not everyone has such a jolly holiday. Crazy relatives crammed together in one space likely are to boil over faster than those sweet potatoes on the stove. Here’s a list of 10 things to do to keep your sanity and make sure you come back to school with more than stuffing for brains.

1. Offer to make any and all ice/eggnog/whatever runs

Obviously, this gets you out of the house and away from all potential craziness. You even can pretend you got lost or “ran into a friend” and stretch this trip out to an hour or more. Likely by the time you actually get back, someone will have been sent out to do the job you were supposed to do, and everyone will have forgotten about you anyway. Score.

2. Go to a movie

After lunch/dinner, suggest the family goes out to a movie. This makes it look like you care about “spending quality time together,” but in reality you know a movie equals at least two hours of peace and quiet.

3. Do the dishes

This may sound like crazy talk, but offering to do the dishes is actually a genius move. You’ll get brownie points for being considerate, but also no one will come near you because they won’t want to get sucked into doing the dishes, too. Instant alone time.

4. Act productive

When your parents are hounding you for holing up in your room and not spending enough time with the family, this is when you pull the “I’m working on a project/applying for internships” card and glare menacingly. When all else fails, just threaten them with moving back home after college because you’re obviously not going to be able to find a job now. Mission accomplished.

5. Meet up with friends

Going home for the holidays probably means running into or meeting up with high school friends. Whether you actually have friends you want to meet, however, is beside the point. Say you’re going out to catch up with people but really go to a coffee shop and order the biggest dessert possible or do some much needed retail therapy. No one will be the wiser.

6. Pick up a new TV show

Holiday breaks are the perfect time to start a new show on Netflix. Be careful, though, because this one can be a little tricky. A couple of hours will go by and everyone will forget about you, but once someone stumbles upon you huddled in your bed spooning your iPad, they’ll berate you for watching so much TV and make you join the festivities again. This is when you pull the stress card. Tears can help sell that you’re overwhelmed with school and just need to relax but are not necessarily required. Your nosy family member will run off in terror and you’ll be left to scream at Ezra and Aria from “Pretty Little Liars” to work things out.

7. Decide to finally work out

So this is the opposite of holiday laziness, but sometimes it’s absolutely necessary. Going for an hour-long run around the neighborhood gets you out of the house and will redeem you for watching so much TV the day before.

8. Entertain the kids

Kids are exhausting ... but not quite as exhausting as your Aunt Gertrude cornering you and grilling you about your love life. The adults will appreciate you getting the little ones out of their hair, and you’ll be thankful for the downtime of coloring and playing Wii tennis.

9. Venture out

Every time I go home I always find out about some cool new restaurant or store everyone is talking about. Grab your nearest non-annoying cousin and take him or her out with you for an afternoon on the town.

10. Suck it up

Sometimes, at the end of the day, the best thing to do is just suck it up and enjoy spending time with your family the best you can. It’s all about having a positive attitude, right (and a flask-full of Jack Daniel’s in your closet for “emergencies”)?

Emily Hopkins is an advertising junior.

Emily Hopkins

Emily is a former staff member of The Oklahoma Daily who worked as Staff Writer, Copy Editor, Life & Arts Reporter and Copy Editor .