Thanksgiving: Is it About The Turkey?

I have a mint brownie recipe that’s been popular among my family and friends for…oh, a long time. If you looked at the book it’s in, you could tell. The book is well worn: the page with that recipe is dirty. Food nuggets cling to the page along with stains that mark its usage.

Like Thanksgiving, it brings up memories of people (some long gone), places (from which we’ve moved), and events (superseded by more current happenings).

When someone at breakfast said she and her husband had tested the recipe for the drinks he’ll be mixing Thursday, I recalled that my husband and his father used to make daiquiris from scratch and then sample them. Didn’t want anyone else to get a bad one, if there is such a thing. A noble cause.

My late husband’s family was hardworking, of Swedish-Danish roots (that’s where the “quist” in my name comes from). But they knew how to celebrate the holidays, with food and, yes, booze. If all of us just ate too much on the holidays, obesity wouldn’t be a problem.

I read recently that for 40% of Americans, family is the best part of Thanksgiving, while leftovers hit that spot with 33%, another 15% like the turkey, only 11% said football, and only 1% said shopping. You can make what you want from those statistics.  Leftovers are almost as popular as family! Let’s not even get started with the family-from-hell stories. I pay no attention to football and I don’t like shopping, but was surprised that they scored so low in the survey. Why do they get so much attention? Let’s blame the media. I understand there are people who have been waiting in line at Best Buy since Monday to be the first in line for something when the store opens Thursday night or Friday morning. Whenever it is, I won’t be there.

This is the time of the year when out-of-towners wander around the grocery store, trying to find the rare condiment or sauce only called for once a year, without a clue as to even where the milk is.

When I went to yoga, the instructor suggested we give thanks for the body that we have, which is probably in better shape for having done a few downward dogs and warrior poses.

Health is something to be thankful for. Just last year, I traveled to Santa Barbara for Thanksgiving with my long time friend, Lee, who now has had a stroke and can’t take nutrition except through a feeding tube. He can only talk in a whisper.

We tend to take things for granted until they are gone, so whether it’s family, health, happiness, friends, and peace within if not without, take time to be grateful for what you have.