A Forest Thanksgiving By Nuala Hynes

Just so you know, I am not the best at writing stories but I guess I'll give it my best shot:
     Most people viewed the forest as an unwelcoming place. The town surrounding the forest mostly stayed within the town except when the lumberjacks needed wood to fuel their fires. Anyway, the forest was full of life from within. Turkeys, squirrels, chipmunks, birds, rabbits, and deer filled the forest with their life. They met up for meetings in the forest, planning on how to best keep out the humans. The next meeting would fall in November, so the animals decided to throw a Thanksgiving meeting, a potluck dinner.
     It was the 21st of November, and small groups of animals gathered to prepare their food for the next day's celebration. The squirrels and chipmunks were assigned a nut dish (obviously, due to their acorns and all nuts alike specialty). The deer made a leaf/berry dish and the other animals decided what to do based on what they knew best. The next day, the animals dragged their dishes to the middle of the forest where they found an excellent display that the turkeys had put together. Lights (from who knows where), flowers, a wooden table set-up (nobody knew where this table had come from either), and food already covering the table. Each of the animals took their seats, mingling with all the animals, not just animals of their species.

     Instead of just discussing their attacks against humans in order to instill enough fear to keep them out, the animals decided to hold that meeting another time and enjoy themselves and each other's company. They even decided to draw names for a Secret Santa they would have at Christmas. The one awkward part of the evening was when the snakes wondering where the turkey was to eat and instead found glares from the turkeys that were still alive. They explained that there was no meat at this Thanksgiving because they would rather have vegetables than taste the blood of their "animal kingdom family". After that point, the animals got along very well, even ending the night with dancing. All in all, the animals realized that they should get together more often and enjoy each other's company. - Nuala Hynes