Between Creepy Crawlies and Ho-Ho-Ho's

Cranberries

Hallowe'en gets at least a month of attention.  Fake webs all over the place.  Horrid over-sized images of creepy crawlies.  (Which reminds me, what happened to those cute goblins we used to see?)  And then Christmas starts right up when November rolls around.  The music.  The Christmas-themed TV movies.  The advertisements.  The reinforcement that it's become important only for the spending of dollars.  So what about Thanksgiving?  It seems to get swallowed up.  And now, as the shopping storm blows in, store personnel are going to have to excuse themselves from their turkey dinners so that their employers can acquire more dollars during the holiday itself, so that they can initiate a Black Thursday instead of holding off until Friday.  Poor Thanksgiving.

In fact, as one seemingly continuous season from early October through early January, the whole thing starts way too early and thus carries on way too long.  I don't like shopping for one thing.  Nor being compressed into all this hoop-la for another.  I remember one December--it was the 20th, in fact--when I was in hot Bangkok and walked by a shop window filled with Christmas decor (in a Buddhist country) realizing that, having been in Asia for awhile, I'd totally forgotten that Christmas was around the corner.  It was quite refreshing.  I was able to spend the next five days thinking about Christmas, not the previous two months.

Well, here's to turkey, stuffing, roasted veggies, cranberry sauce, potatoes and gravy, and whatever pie is set on the table.  (Apple seems to be the favorite these days; no one much seems to go for pumpkin or mince, those two pies from my childhood.  But I figure any pie tastes just fine.)  And here's to family gatherings with good friends joining in.

One nice thing about Thanksgiving is that it all centers around eating.  No one has to worry about gifts except to share the pie you made, the cranberry conserve, or some fancy sweet potato dish.  It's a pretty cool holiday, one of my favorites, so here's to it:  Happy Thanksgiving!

Ready to carve