The food is secondary on this day
As this morning’s paper greets you, many of you might be like me. I’m waiting for my granddaughters to awake so we can watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. I expect a phone call from my daughters, who will no doubt be invigorated after running the Turkey Trot in Miamisburg. The day is gearing up, and in just a few hours, we will have a full house.
By all cultural indications, the holidays have arrived. Christmas trees sparkle in storefront windows. Holiday catalogs make our mail carriers crazy and my grandchildren are already making their lists for Santa. However, today is Thanksgiving, a holiday that might feel shortsighted in the world of grandeur. In my opinion, it is the most tender and binding holiday of the year. Quite simply, today is about gathering.
If you think about it, all roads today lead to the big meal. Days of preparation, grocery checkout lines stretching far back into the cereal isles or scheduling oven space dominate our energies. For many of us, Thanksgiving is about setting a fancy table, basting a turkey and preparing multiple accompaniments like sweet potato casseroles, stuffing or pumpkin pie. We expect the expected people to come at the designated time with the plates and forks set on a coiffed table. However, for many, Thanksgiving meal is a bit more happenstance. Yet the beauty of this day is all about the determination to make the best of a not-so-optimal situation.
This morning, I think about the thousands of our neighbors, family members and friends who are serving our country in faraway lands. From military bases in England to Japan, so many soldiers will miss home, but good will rise in their determination to eat a communal celebratory dinner despite their distance from loved ones. A friend who served abroad for years speaks fondly of those Thanksgiving meals where turkeys might have been scant, but joy in camaraderie was always plentiful.
There are many in our civilian workforce who aren’t afforded a day off today, as their charge is to keep the world turning. There are no holidays for hospital emergency department personnel, gas station cashiers, bus drivers or first responders. And isn’t Thanksgiving a busy air travel day? So many people have to work today, yet my hope is a Thanksgiving gathering will find them somehow.
I remember many years ago when I was a staff nurse at a hospital. Working holidays was always dreaded, but when the actual day came, we all showed up with taco dip and cheesy breads splayed out in the break room. Because we were all where we didn’t want to be, joy and cohesiveness overtook our regret at not being home. Working holidays became fun once immersed in the company of our cohorts. We couldn’t be with our families, but we created a Thanksgiving family with those we were with. My guess is there will be many workplace break rooms lined with foil-covered casseroles meant to be shared. I just hope those working have a moment to enjoy a bite while the food
is still warm.
The tender pleasures of Thanksgiving are not really about the fancy of the food. My brother, sister and I have the fondest memories of Thanksgiving growing up despite my mom’s watered-down gravy and dining room table so jam-packed with people that often my sister and I would sit on top of one another in one shared seat. It was perfect.
Regardless of who you are with today, I wish you joy and contentment in the act of sharing a meal where gratitude and abundance are set at whatever table calls you to gather. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.