Every year, we as Americans like to stuff our faces with as much food as possible while permanently damaging relationships with loved ones by talking about politics to celebrate a supposed feast held by the Pilgrims and Native Americans in 1621. This year, not only will our relationships and digestive systems be broken, but our wallets will be, too.

This year, almost every item that normally comes in Thanksgiving dinners will cost more than in previous years. This bizarre inflation can be attributed to a multitude of shortages and the rapidly changing climate.

Mrs. Oakley, the culinary teacher at Broomfield High School, has to go grocery shopping for her culinary and ProStart classes and experiences this rapid inflation first-hand. In a normal year, Mrs. Oakley would go grocery shopping about two times a week, but this year she said, “I’ve had to go a lot more because the store is often out of things that I need.”

One Item Mrs. Oakley has had a particularly hard time with, is butter. She said, “I would get the King Soopers generic kind of butter, but recently they’ve been out of that, and I’ve had to buy the fancy organic butter that is seven dollars a pound instead of three dollars a pound.”

The shortage of butter can largely be attributed to climate change. The poor air quality caused by the massive wildfires in the western states in recent years has been shown to decrease the overall production of dairy products, such as butter.

Another item that is in short supply, is turkey. Turkey is the main dish in the traditional Thanksgiving dinner, but people might have to consider an alternative this year. Many of the largest turkey producers have been short-staffed due to the labor and living-wage shortage Americans have been experiencing in recent months. Additionally, last year’s increased demand for smaller birds will cause a largely inflated turkey price, especially with larger birds.

While this year and its bizarre prices may seem scary, just remember that Thanksgiving is not about eating turkey or buns slathered in butter, it is about those we choose to surround ourselves with as we eat that meal.