I still make pumpkin pie.

Thanksgiving – an American concept that might be better off if it just quietly went away.  Thanksgiving, a day set aside where groups of people, generally family members, would come together for a huge meal to commemorate their thankfulness for something.  There are a lot of people who don’t like Thanksgiving.  Online articles, newspaper articles, magazine articles, movies, sitcoms, social media posts, etc…… – all telling how bad Thanksgiving is.  And the truth is, we can all agree on some or all of the reasons why Thanksgiving is crappy.  Thanksgiving is just a memory for me now.  Covid really closed the lid on a dwindling family meal.  Parents are dead.  Children are adults.  No grandchildren.  And husband has alienated multiple friends and family members.  But that’s not really what I wanted to discuss.  I wanted to discuss some of the reasoning behind the negative thoughts about Thanksgiving – like the one or two yucky side dishes, or the no-so-sober relative, or the grown siblings that still argue whenever they see each other, and the other relatives who are just a pain in the ass for whatever reason.  Or that creepy relative that is always giving the 12 year old kids the side eye and makes inappropriate comments.  Or the relatives who are snobs – they have to one up everyone because they have money or pretend they have money.  But I keep going back to the people or persons who attempt to put together these big family meals.  For a lot of people, Thanksgiving begins at least a couple weeks in advance.  There’s all of the house cleaning, grocery buying, locating all of the china and silverware, serving dishes.  Trying to create food dishes in clean and healthy environment so no one comes down with food poisoning.  The day of Thanksgiving can be hectic enough, but honestly, it’s all of the preplanning stuff that can create deadly stress.  Few family members will step up and help out during those manic housecleaning days.  Or try to rearrange furniture to accommodate everyone.  Or offer to pay for any of the food or other necessities that goes into a Thanksgiving feast.  And once the meal is over, everyone scoots away to leave you with a mega mess, and probably a clogged toilet or two, some strangely broken patio furniture.  Spills and stains in those “how did it get way back there” places.  And even though no one smokes, there’s the cigarette butts in half empty cans or glasses.  And as you survey this mess, you think it could be worse.  You could be homeless.