Why we love Thanksgiving — the food, the family, the anticipation
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, as it brings together stuffing, mashed potatoes, charades and the people I love most in one house. If I could be with you now, readers, I know I would hear happy sighs and see smiles, as you, too, recognize the magic of this day.
December gets crazy. Frantic shopping, overspending, stressing over family who are not coming and over some of those who are. The last week of November is still comforting and sane, not too cold, just brisk, with the last mosaic of leaves adorning our grass. We are excited and expectant about the ho-ho merrymaking that is about to come — and not exhausted as we will be in a few weeks from what just came.
We are on the brink of the madness, not swimming in it.
This article marks my 10-year anniversary of writing the “Talk to Iris” column for The Capital. Each year, as I write about my reverence for Thanksgiving, I am inspired by a brown paper feather on the bulletin board above my desk. On it, a second-grade son — who turns 30 next week — wrote: “I am thankful for my parents because they always take care of me.” His teacher had the kids cut out feathers, write what they were thankful for, and they all read from their feathers at a Thanksgiving school assembly.
I wish I had cut out a thankful feather to give to my parents when I was in Miss Padoni’s second-grade class. That feather reminds me not only of children we take care of and parents who took care of us — but of all of our blessings.
One paper feather never fails to remind me that in the chaos and uncertainty in our bigger world, there is so much goodness in our little worlds, in our families that provide safe harbors from the storms.
I do not have a gratitude journal, a growing cultural trend. Though every year at this time I do remember and record in this seasonal column the things that make me so very, very grateful. For all of us, thankfulness tends to swell at this time of year.
I am thankful that it is still November, and I will savor every last hour of these relaxing days that herald the coming of the exciting and frenetic month ahead.
I am thankful that this Thursday we will be embraced by the family and best friends who are the steady rudders of our lives as the world thrashes around us. We will stuff our bellies and be overflowing with love.
I am thankful to live in a community where I cannot
go into a store or a restaurant without running into people I have known for years. I am thankful that finally, vaccinated and with masks, we can feel safer in these public spaces.
For many of us, these places and these friends have become our history holders. We met on the playground dropping our kids off at preschool and we now go to those kids’ weddings.
We knew each other’s parents and we attend those parents’ funerals. I am thankful we have given our sons deep roots in a place that is truly a HOME-town, a town with an extraordinary history and a promising future with leaders who care deeply about health care, the environment and diversity.
In my mid-60s, I am just thankful to be here and that my family is safe, after a couple tough years of a pandemic that stole too many loved ones from too many families.
I am thankful that I still have the Beatles to remind me:
“For tomorrow may rain so I’ll follow the sun.”
Today the temperature is 68 degrees in late November, while my sister in Chicago said there are snow flurries there. I have on flipflops and shorts as I am headed to the grocery store for a turkey, stuff for stuffing and a big bag of yellow potatoes to mash.
Finally, I am thankful to you, my readers. You fill my Inbox with letters, mostly kind, a few not so kind. Those of you writing with critiques, thank you for speaking your mind. I may not agree with you but I welcome a conversation, as you know from my responses.
I am thankful for all of you who are taking the time to read the Sunday newspaper, if not online, at your kitchen table, with a cup of coffee. Our world moves too fast, our lives whirl by, and this rushing of life is fleeting and too often not remembered. As Thanksgiving approaches, let us remind ourselves to remember with gratitude this moment and this day. Let us be soothed about our losses, by the gifts we do have in hand.
Even if you do not have a gratitude journal, make your own thankful lists on a yellow pad, or any scrap of paper. And if your house on this holiday will be filled with small children, give them scissors and construction paper. Have them cut out their own feathers and write what they are most thankful for — you could be like me, treasuring that feather for decades to come.