Thanksgiving has to be one of the top three holidays for me, and I won’t even begin to lie, it’s all about the food.
Don’t get me wrong, I am thankful for all of my blessings, no matter how few or small they may be in my own eyes. I am well aware, and who working in my line of work wouldn’t be, considering how we see the dregs of society and some of the worst possible behavior?
It’s just that I don’t stand up everyday and announce anything. I never make sure to point out to others, “Hey, I just want you guys to know I’m thankful, because if I think it and no one knows it, it never happened, right?”
I am just not that guy. I don’t have to go on social media and make a point of telling all the people I know what I am thankful for that specific day. It isn’t a congeniality contest and if it was, I’m sure at some point, probably during the interview section, I would most assuredly say something to offend and lose.
No, I keep it to myself and express it appropriately, at least in my opinion, in a personal and private way.
So, for me Thanksgiving isn’t that one day a year I have to stand up as if I were at a 12-step meeting trying to get off the cranberry sauce and profess my thankfulness.
Having said that, what does Thanksgiving mean to me?
It means my mother’s cooking, normally, which, well, if you have ever seen me you will instantly recognize I have a healthy appetite and am not afraid of eating too many things. The standard rule where I am concerned is, usually I’ll eat it if it doesn’t eat me first.
My mother is the last of a dying breed when it comes to her culinary skills and I have made sure to learn all of them, so there’s no threat of my impending death from a lack of gravy in the diet.
Thanksgiving means stress. People spend so much time worried about who is going to be where and when they forget to enjoy one another. Someone is almost always late, throwing the schedule off even more while someone else’s kid is screaming their fool head off because they think they’re starving.
But notice, when the meal is served they pick at it and don’t actually eat. Eventually there will be an argument, usually between siblings, over a disagreement so old no one truly remembers what it was about.
Oh, and there’s always the presence of that one person who is back in the dating world because of divorce. While everyone wants to be pleasant, there’s always that underlying belief you shouldn’t get too close — they may not be around for Christmas.
And if the divorcee is a serial dater, well, then it’s all about trying to remember the lineup from the last year because chances are you have a new name to remember for a day.
I like to think Thanksgiving Day is about football, but I’m only fooling myself there. Don’t misunderstand, I KNOW there is football that day, it’s just never any good. The NFL seems to recognize the sleep-inducing qualities of turkey and schedules a real snooze-fest for everyone’s entertainment.
Rarely is the game exciting at all and usually highlights two extremely bad teams or one powder puff versus a powerhouse with the game being entertaining for a few minutes, just long enough for the nap to kick in. Go tryptophan!
In closing, I am going to admit what so many others refuse to admit when it comes to Thanksgiving and that is it’s a day off during the week with pay, I get to eat until I am sure my abdomen will explode, and when it’s over I have new reasons to poke fun at the people I know.
Some of you will see this as some sort of heathen-like statement, but at least I’m honest.
Besides, not a day passes I am not thankful. Why should I have to fake it for everyone else?
