COLUMN: Shooting eachother at a topless Thanksgiving

Danielle Hegsted

On Sunday, my roommates and I had this great idea to have Thanksgiving dinner together before we went our separate ways for the holidays.

While eating our pumpkin pie, which may I add was delicious, my roommate told this story:

When she was in New Jersey, a bunch of young single adults decided to have Thanksgiving together. And she was very excited to make pumpkin pie. She made one fatal error. She put crust on top of the pie and put the whole thing in the oven to bake.

Well, the middle did not cook.

As she was explaining this to us, I exclaimed, “Well, I like my pies topless.”

Not the smartest choice of words.

Needless to say, it made the quote board in our apartment.

With Thanksgiving coming up so quickly, I was telling a friend how excited I was to go home. And we got talking about family traditions.

She was almost appalled at me when I blurted out, “After Thanksgiving dinner, we shoot each other.”

Once again, my mouth got ahead of my brain.

So, I had to explain. For a number of years, my extended family has gone and played laser tag Thanksgiving night.

Things get pretty competitive, especially with my uncles the mighty hunters, and my little cousins who are the same height as the sensors we wear on our front and back. You can’t see these little kids because they are short but they are deadly.

Everyone wants to be the one to come out on top and we employ every method we can think of, including backing up against a wall and covering the front sensor so no one can get ya.

What a great family bonding moment. I am sure most people have funny, weird traditions like this as well, ok maybe not.

So, after all this, I would like to wish everyone a happy, topless Thanksgiving with plenty of random shootings.

Danielle Hegsted is the Assistant Features Editor Comments can be sent to

elleinad@yahoo.com