As Thanksgiving draws near, several UF administrators and student leaders are looking forward to a holiday that means more than chomping on turkey.
Several UF officials will be sticking around Gainesville to partake in service, socializing and giving thanks while Student Government's top executives pay visits to their family.
UF President Bernie Machen and his wife, Chris, plan to serve dinner at St. Francis House and eat their Thanksgiving meal afterward with friends and his 91-year-old mother, Machen wrote in an e-mail.
UF Provost Joe Glover plans to roast a turkey that will later be complemented with side dishes from seven friends for a midafternoon meal, Glover wrote in an e-mail.
Other UF employees are looking forward to typical holiday provisions with a cultural twist.
Aside from turkey and green beans, Vice President for Student Affairs Patricia Telles-Irvin said she would make her favorite dish, mince meat pie, which historically contains dried fruit and animal byproducts.
"I'll probably be the only one eating it," Telles-Irvin said with a laugh.
She will host a traditional meal for about 16 family members and UF students who don't have a place to go, she said. If enough turkey is left over, she will make molé, a Mexican soup made with chili sauce and bitter chocolate.
Student Body President Kevin Reilly said he is looking forward to a traditional meal in his Palm Harbor home that includes his favorite dish, sweet potato casserole. Reilly said he has been known to help with the cooking.
"I will most definitely be watching football, but I know my way around the kitchen," he said.
UF Chief Financial Officer Matt Fajack will also contribute some culinary skills to his family's feast.
"I make a great pumpkin-banana torte," Fajack said, adding he always cooks the turkey.
Fajack, who moved to Gainesville from Ohio in spring, said he had trouble finding the properly prepared poultry to make his favorite Thanksgiving dish, turducken. The meal is made by stuffing a boneless chicken inside a boneless duck, which is stuffed inside a turkey.
Student Body Vice President Yooni Yi will be in Jacksonville celebrating Thanksgiving with home-cooked Korean dishes.
Yi said her family will pass around the phone on Thursday morning and speak with relatives, most of whom live in Korea.
Student Body Treasurer Paul Drayton, also of Jacksonville, said he is looking forward to eating made-from-scratch macaroni and cheese, collard greens and juicy turkey with about 20 family members.
Drayton will also watch "National Lampoon," a tradition that began when he was in elementary school.
Drayton said family members take turns sharing what they are thankful for, a tradition his mother organizes every year.
The break might not provide time for relaxation for all, however.
Brian Beach, interim senior vice president for administration, said "hectic" would be the perfect way to describe his holiday. Beach has three sons, 5 years old and younger.
"I probably will be chasing the boys to keep them away from mom," he said.
