Thanksgiving is only two weeks away! When we were in college, the holiday always meant a break from dorm food, partying with old friends and drunken family gatherings. It was awesome.

In honor of Turkey Day we’ve decided to compile a guide of navigating your time home for the first long break during the academic year. For students who are staying at school, don’t fret! Our guide for you will be published tomorrow.

Everything you need to know to have a freakin’ sweet Thanksgiving Break is all here.

Whether you come home on Wednesday or Thursday, your parents are going to be chomping at the bit to see you even if you’ve already come for a weekend or two. Our rule of thumb is to just give them your undivided attention on the first day. Your hometown friends will calling you left and right, but we find that if you spend the first day with the ‘rents, they’ll let you do whatever you want for the rest of the weekend.

Alternate with information they want to hear and things you want. For example, talk about how well you’re doing in classes and then ask them to do your laundry. Discuss how you choose to stay in and not party on some weekends (this is a lie, but who cares? Most parents will choose to believe it) then ask for money to have a night out with friends when you get back home to make up for lost social time.

Parents will spread the wealth so long as they feel they can have some control over you while you’re home so give them what they want and you’ll get what you want.

Then, come Friday, tell them to go away because you’ll have already gotten everything you need. See you at Christmas!

On Thanksgiving Day, offer to help out with a dish or two. Things like green bean casserole and mashed potatoes are super easy, but the family will be grateful for any help they can get. Let them know in advance, however, that if your team is playing on TV, football comes before food. Your Dad will be so proud he’ll probably ask you to share a beer with him now that you’re in college! How often do you get free beer at school? Oh, wait…

Expect many relationships to have changed when you get home, especially when it comes to high school friends. Not only have you grown and changed in college, but so have they. This doesn’t mean you aren’t close anymore, it just means seeing them might be weird. Talk about life and how things are, but be careful about stating how much things have changed. Often these types of conversations lead to anger and confusion so it’s better to just talk about how much fun you’re having at (insert college name here).

Of course, the big reunions are the ones for people in long-distance relationships or those high school sweethearts who ended things right before they left for fall semester. We have some experience with this and we have to warn you: no matter what, things are likely to get awkward.

Couples still together should take some time to talk about how they’ve changed and any unhappiness they have about the relationship. Don’t be surprised by the “Turkey Dump,” as Suite101 calls it. Long-distance relationship are incredibly hard to keep up and couples that don’t see each other at least three times a week (except in certain circumstances: vacation, sickness, etc.) usually crumble around this time.

A warning to high school sweethearts who aren’t together but still have feelings: don’t get drunk! You’ll hook up, be more confused about your relationship than ever before and then go back to school without having clarified anything. Try to skip this rite of passage if you can. Some of us mistakenly enjoyed our ex-flames three years in a row, but we got the hang of it by senior year.

Despite these warnings, college breaks are mostly all about the fun of seeing close friends you haven’t seen in a few months. Don’t worry if things go awry, just make sure you realize that class starts again Monday – life goes on.

Finally, there are three special rules we have for Thanksgiving break.

1. Drink

Drink with the parents (if they are alcohol-friendly). When we came home for break our first time, it was shocking to see how lax they were about drinking. Have a beer with Dad during a game and a glass of wine during Thanksgiving dinner and savor the lack of guilt.

2. Party

Have a party with old friends. Putting a large group of friends together is a smart idea as it minimizes any drama that can arise when two friends reunite on their own and realize how different they’ve become. With big reunions, it becomes easier to focus on the joy of seeing one another and not the changes people have gone through.

3. Don’t Study

Don’t study. It’s a waste of time idea. You’re going to start cramming for finals the next two weeks anyway so leave the books at school!