Out-of-state students make Thanksgiving about friendship

As hundreds of hopeful shoppers crowd the sales happening across the valley on Thursday night, it can be easy to forget the true meaning of Thanksgiving.

Not everybody is able to spend the holiday with family, but Thanksgiving isn’t about where you give thanks. It’s about who’s with you.

“It’s a happy time of year in general,” said Sabina Pfutzenreuter on Thursday. “I’m pretty close with these guys.

At the I-HOP restaurant in Ammon on Thursday afternoon, Pfutzenreuter was surrounded by 5 friends. The BYU-I students gathered together for their own special Thanksgiving, where pancakes and syrup took the place of turkey and gravy.

“These are like my closer friends in school,” she said.

Pfutzenreuter couldn’t make the trip back home to Arizona for Thanksgiving this year. Her friend Zach Evans and his sister Gentry decided they’d skip a journey back to Texas, too.

Far from their own families, there was still fun and food and no shortage of friends.

Sabina, Gentry and Zach joined their friends Michael, Brooke and Sandra for a meal together.

It was a small reminder that Thanksgiving isn’t about the sales, or even the food. Thanksgiving is about family, however it may look.

“Everyone is forced to realize everything they have, I think it’s a good time,” said Pfutzenreuter.

I-HOP will stay open all night for shoppers who might need a little recharge during their Black Friday adventures.