I’m tired of Thanksgiving being the middle child. Walking through stores and on social media I have been attacked with good-will and the need to count how many sleeps are left until the all important holiday that is known as Christmas. Before that, we were planning out costumes and parties for Halloween. Even before the Halloween parties were over people were going on and on about “Christmas.”
You have a month until then!
Quit worrying about Christmas and start thinking about the middle holiday — Thanksgiving.
It is a day that requires much planning and not just the preparation of the turkey. (As an aside, remember that depending on the poundage of the bird the amount of defrost time will change. Hour a pound people.) Thanksgiving is an under-appreciated holiday that leaves many stressed out once the day arrives because you were so preoccupied with the other holidays and scoping out stores for Black Friday. GO ONLINE! It’s the same price. Going into a store for what is now “Black Thursday” is only taking away time for store employees to spend a holiday with their loved ones. Instead of basking in gravy and breaking up a fight between the better cuts of meat, store employees are pulling crazed customers off of each other like officials at a football game. That’s assuming that the employees live through the stampede of people running into the stores to procure an item that the stores only brought 20 of so they can increase the price.
Thanksgiving is supposed to be a day for everyone. It’s the day you first learned you were on your way to being an adult. Riding in the front seat? Unimportant. Staying up past 10? Pathetic. Your 18th birthday? Meaningless. But, the first time you get to sit at the adult table on Thanksgiving. A miracle. You have been acknowledged by your parents, aunts and uncles that you can do more than cry about how your sister is kicking you. It is a time for growth in the middle section of your body, just below the heart. If you heart grows three times as big go to the hospital immediately. That’s not normal and you may be having a heart attack.
Thanksgiving is a multifaceted holiday that reaches many people. Unlike Christmas which is a holiday for children. During Thanksgiving there’s football between those teams that play each other. I think there’s a turkey trophy involved. You don’t see the NFL handing out trophies for Christmas. Another great thing is that you can put your own tradition with it. And no,”we open our presents on Christmas eve” does not count. Every year my family would go to Florida for Thanksgiving and the next best part was the seafood boil the next day. They had a huge cauldron outside placed over a wood fire. My cousin Johnny would buy crates full of fresh live crabs to drop into the pot with all the seasoning and vegetables. While we waited for all the food to be cooked we would eat the leftover Thanksgiving dinner. After that was the all important food coma to recover before school started.
The day after Christmas all you get is resentment for the presents you didn’t get and long lines to return the gift you didn’t want. New Year’s is just a time to make promises you won’t keep. Thanksgiving is a holiday that you can relive day after day with no regrets. For a college student that leftover food your relatives pushed on you when you said eight pounds of food was enough will save you money. You have turkey for sandwiches, greens, mac ‘n cheese, and that gross purple stuff that can be molded into an art project.
Thanksgiving is a day that is more than a commercial holiday. It is a time to spend relaxing with family.
