Thanksgiving rant
I've had enough. Please stop! It's that time of year, less than a week before the last Thursday in November, when I get scarily close to my breaking point. Everywhere I turn it's turkey this and pumpkin that. I can't take it any more! Why can't everyone—everyone, newspapers, friends, co-workers, the radio, the internet (thankfully I don't have a TV)—just leave me alone to make my Thanksgiving preparations in peace?
My clock-radio woke me up this morning, and as usual I was barely conscious and don't really remember the details, but what I do remember is that the announcer was going on and on and on about some pumpkin-throwing contest somewhere. Firing up the computer I look in on the New York Times dining section, and what do I get? "The Pilgrims Didn't Brine"; "Serving Essence of Pumpkin, Instead of the Annual Pie". Enough already! Why the obsession? I've barely recovered from the Halloween stampede, now it's this, and I know—I dread—what's coming next: plastic reindeer, everything a lurid red and green, and the interminable drone of Bing Crosby wherever I turn.
Don't get me wrong. I like Thanksgiving. It's a good excuse to get really busy in the kitchen, and it's a great time to unwind with family. It's important that these rituals exist. But why, why, does it have to be such a production? Why can't we just enjoy the holiday for what it is: a lot of eating and drinking with our loved ones?
My clock-radio woke me up this morning, and as usual I was barely conscious and don't really remember the details, but what I do remember is that the announcer was going on and on and on about some pumpkin-throwing contest somewhere. Firing up the computer I look in on the New York Times dining section, and what do I get? "The Pilgrims Didn't Brine"; "Serving Essence of Pumpkin, Instead of the Annual Pie". Enough already! Why the obsession? I've barely recovered from the Halloween stampede, now it's this, and I know—I dread—what's coming next: plastic reindeer, everything a lurid red and green, and the interminable drone of Bing Crosby wherever I turn.
Don't get me wrong. I like Thanksgiving. It's a good excuse to get really busy in the kitchen, and it's a great time to unwind with family. It's important that these rituals exist. But why, why, does it have to be such a production? Why can't we just enjoy the holiday for what it is: a lot of eating and drinking with our loved ones?
posted by Emmef at 12:11 PM
3 Comments:
An elegant & precise expression of such a wonderful thought
Hi there! sometimes we -people- forget the real meaning of things. Priorities change I guess. Being that the case, I think we do a lot trying to -remember- ourselves, preserving and finding the love within every tradition. Hugs!
Melissa
Consider yourself fortunate that Thanksgiving is in November rather than October as it is here in Canada.
The lurid Christmas barrage started in earnest on 1 November but there were one one or two frightening weeks at the end of October with Hallowe'en AND Christmas ads everywhere. Quel nightmare.
-Elizabeth
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