Thanksgiving, What's Not to Love?

WARNING- The following post is so horribly sarcastic and pessimistic, you may not believe I authored it. But oh, I did.

I am thankful for Thanksgiving for many reasons. Yes, the huge dinner is wonderful. All the prep... the sleepless night before spent baking pies... the rush to get a huge turkey, only to find I'm out of room in my freezer... the debate with my husband over which is better, cornbread dressing or stuffing in the bird... fighting with my son to eat his green bean casserole.... fussing over every detail, from the garnish to the place settings... hating Martha Stewart for always having the perfect table and dinner... feeling so horribly stuffed and tired after eating that I could just explode... wait a minute, UURRCH!

I thought I was supposed to be thankful!

Oh, but I am! I am thankful! Don't get me wrong, I really love the idea of Thanksgiving. I enjoy spending the day with family and over eating. I enjoy getting harassed by my brothers and ignored by my husband while he watches football. (Seriously- he doesn't watch the Lions any other time they are on TV, why is it so important to watch them on Thanksgiving Day?) I enjoy it when my Dad points out what a lousy Mother I am. I just love it when my niece spills her food everywhere and eats all of the olives.

Oops- there I go again.

Maybe I really don't like Thanksgiving. Let me try to focus on what I do like instead:

1. Having the day off from work.
2. The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
3. Anticipating Black Friday shopping the next day.
4. Trying new and fun things with canned cranberries.
5. Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving cartoon (what's wrong with toast for Thanksgiving, anyway?)

You know, that's really all I can think of. I don't know why lately I've become a little disillusioned with Thanksgiving. You would think it's right up my alley. I do have some great memories of dinners growing up, where Aunts, Uncles and countless cousins would gather at my Grandparents' country home and devour turkey with all the fixin's.

Then there was the time my Dad stuffed a turkey with unpopped popcorn kernels, thinking they would pop as the turkey cooked- it didn't happen. Or the one Thanksgiving when my father-in-law for whatever reason stuffed his turkey with Vienna sausages and hot dogs.

Okay, all that aside, I believe the reason I'm not feelin' very Thanksgivingish these days is because we have it all wrong. We don't reflect on the true meaning of the holiday. If we did, we'd be sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner with Al-Qaeda and negotiating peace. Isn't that what the Pilgrims and Indians did?

And when you really understand on the history of Thanksgiving, you realize that the Pilgrims left England to avoid the persecution of the English King so that they could in turn go about persecuting the Native Americans. What's to be so thankful about there? That I'm a descendant of people who pillaged and plundered in order to rule this land that was built on the backs of slaves while it's Native people were eventually run off and forced to live on a desolate reservation in the desert? Yes, look at me beaming with pride.

Do you know that turkey wasn't even eaten on the first Thanksgiving? The most detailed description of the "First Thanksgiving" comes from Edward Winslow from A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, in 1621:

"Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, among other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed upon our governor, and upon the captain, and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty."

So when was the last time venison was on your Thanksgiving menu, I ask?

Anyway, I'm hopeful that I'll be in better spirits in the upcoming week. I plan on posting some new recipes that I want to try for Thanksgiving dinner. I guess the purpose of this post is to yes, celebrate the season, but also ask that we not forget the reason and the history behind the holiday.