I have never been a big Thanksgiving fan. Ever. I remember as a child being moderately excited about the holiday because it meant my aunts & uncles would come to stay with us for 5 days. However as time went by and those same relatives started to pass away (inevitably & ironically around Thanksgiving) I began to see it differently. I saw how much work it was on my mother--who worked her fingers to the bone preparing for the event by cleaning and cooking until the wee hours of the night. Add to that those 5 days of meal preparations and clean up for everyone and you had a very exhausting week of entertaining & servitude. Martha Stewart I am not.
As years went by and I moved across the country, I sort of just molded into random Thanksgiving plans. Depending on the boyfriend and/or spouse sometimes I cooked. Sometimes we went out to eat and sometimes we ended up at friends. The only static "tradition" is that I go for a run--but hell, I do that everyday anyway. Now that I am married to a chef--we still kind of bounce around, but now HE does the cooking pretty much wherever we go. He enjoys this and I enjoy that he enjoys this. I will contribute a pie--(hey, I'm not THAT selfish).
The other reason I dislike Thanksgiving is because I don't really understand the rationale of a nation gorging themselves sick all in the name of "being thankful." It has always been my belief that if we were TRULY thankful for the food/shelter we have, we would all go without it for a day to remind ourselves of how thankful we are. Nothing proves how much you need and appreciate something until it is gone. I guarantee if we all had to camp outside on a cold November night with an empty belly we would appreciate our homes (be they meager or grandiose) and our pantries a whole lot more.
All that being said, I wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving. I will go for a nice run in the morning and then surround myself with my greatest and most treasured blessings; my family. I wish for you all the same.
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