Holiday specials have become a staple of TV seasons. The most famous are, of course, Christmas specials–and the number of Christmas television episodes is in the hundreds, from shows ranging from CSI: NY to Mad Men to Scrubs. However, no longer is it just Christmas that’s celebrated through the fictional lands of TV shows, but also holidays like Halloween, Easter, and of course, Thanksgiving, that have joined the mix.

The list of Thanksgiving TV episodes is rapidly growing, and while personally I find episodes of crime procedurals randomly interspersed with turkey dinners and cranberry sauce (or maybe that’s just fake blood) to be a bit odd, some of these can be the funniest and most heartwarming episodes of an entire season.

Like with most TV, we as viewers automatically relate shows to our lives. Whether you’re watching the TV family that you’ve always wished to be a part of sit down around a table together, or watching Blair Waldorf stab her “friends” in the back during that lovely time of year when you’re supposed to put your differences aside and being thankful that at the very least your family is more functional than hers, Thanksgiving episodes always make you think about your own life and family.

So this year when you escape to your room to hide from your dreadful aunt or to simply get a quick respite from the commotion downstairs, find a Thanksgiving episode of your favorite TV show to watch, and think about how thankful we all are. Whether you’re thankful for your life not actually being like your favorite sitcom, or simply thankful for the wonderful escapism that TV provides, we could all use with a little reflection on our real lives, and sometimes a comparison to the fanciful world of television can be just the thing to get you thinking.

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