For all the turkeys out there...
Hello readers...have you a turkey nestled in your freezer or are you on the list for a fresh bird from the farm? OR perhaps you will be in line, you know...that one that winds around the building selling your delicious honey baked ham? In any case, so begins the joy of traditions and family ties!!!
Thanksgiving is my favorite favorite holiday! It's dinner...pure and simple; maybe the football game televised as well as the Thanksgiving parade, but it's really about the meal, isn't it? Unlike Christmas, with decorations and gifts, Thanksgiving centers around a table with food. It's got all the charms of warmth, comfort food and a "calm" before the storm (stores typically aren't open until after dinner is over!!! where are the days of old when shopping didn't begin until much after this day?), gathering with family and friends, laughter and conversation, dessert!!! and the ride home. It feels like a cozy warm blanket or a big bear hug to me.
The past few years, starting with Covid, have changed drastically as far as who, where and when we get together. When you are in line with the in-laws of your married children, there are many years when there are a number of empty seats at your table. It's still tough, even now, to wait your turn for the seats to be full, so it has provided a "not so exciting" opportunity to do an about face and look at what is really going on with my psyche and what can I do differently. Coming up next month is a post about this similar struggle with Christmas, but let's not dampen things just yet. For now, it is worth noting that a lot, I mean A LOT, of people have to make shifts in their holiday "designs" (visions and plans). Great plans often don't come to pass; moreover, people lose their jobs, lose a loved one, get divorced, etc. around the holidays. Let us not be ignorant to reality and that life can change in a moment.
The point I would like to get to is that Thanksgiving doesn't require that it looks like a Norman Rockwell painting or a scene from Dickens. A place setting for one, for those with a heart of thankfulness and gratitude is really what this day represents. I love history and would have written about pilgrims etc. but I want to remain in the present and focus on the truth that a tunafish sandwich on Thanksgiving day could be deeply meaningful when the heart is poised to feel thankful...for whatever you find in your heart to be thankful for. Another blog post (perhaps next year) might focus in on how one might create/decorate a space for this particular day; for now can we just bring down our elevated expectations; both that we put on ourselves and what we put on others, to rest in the gratefulness of life as it is now, and the blessings we have received thus far. There it is; plain and simple; just how we should/can approach this Thanksgiving day, 2022.
Have a beautiful day, whatever your plans...Jeanine