Turkey Day

Well, here it is time for my almost, sometimes annual Thanksgiving Day blog. Our house is usually unpredictable around the holidays — you never know who, or how many, may be here. Over the years, we’ve had friends from various places around the world as well as local friends and, of course, relatives. This year seems to be the relative year. We’re fortunate enough to have all our kids, grandkids and Chassie’s mom, Roberta. Couldn’t ask for a better group.

I’ve had Thanksgiving in a lot of places, under a lot of trying circumstances and even since being married, Thanksgiving has often been a challenge. I think myself and Claire have only been apart on one Thanksgiving… I remember not having turkey that day but Claire did manage to have a turkey even though there was no power because of a typhoon. (That whole episode is maybe a subject for another blog.)

We always have turkey at Thanksgiving — we have other things, but I don’t ever remember having Thanksgiving at our house without turkey. It seems that turkey has become almost synonymous with Thanksgiving, but after doing my usual extensive research on the subject, it appears that turkey probably wasn’t on the menu for the three-day feast between the pilgrims and members of the Wampanoag tribe, that is generally considered to be the first Thanksgiving…. the meats mentioned were duck, venison and seafood — no turkey. However, in the Thanksgivings that followed, turkeys became popular because it was a readily available meal that could feed a large group of people. Turkeys were also more expendable than other choices — cows and hens were too useful to be eaten because they provided milk and eggs. Turkeys, on the other hand, were usually kept around farms to eat bugs and worms and plumped up enough by harvest time to make a good choice for a feast.

So we should all be thankful all the time, but today is a good day to reflect on things that we should be especially thankful for — my list, in no particular order and far, far from complete….
Our children — and grandchildren
Family and friends
Health
Wine
Cheese
Freedom — despite politics and the entire election process we’ve just gone through, I’m thankful to be an American and living in the U.S.
Today — because it’s another opportunity to do better and another chance to see what a great experience life really is….
So Happy Thanksgiving to everyone — don’t blink because it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas….
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