We were seated around a table,
but it didn’t seem like Thanksgiving. There was no turkey. No ham. No stuffing
or gravy. No rolls, mashed potatoes, or pumpkin pie. No parades or football games
dominated the room and neither snow nor frozen fog nor falling leaves created
the ambiance of autumn. In fact, if Don hadn’t said, “Happy Thanksgiving!”
after we said the blessing, I wouldn’t even have remembered it was that day.
But it was and it was enough. More than enough.
I knew a priest once who turned
down invitations for celebrating that holiday with others. He said he only
celebrated Thanksgiving alone, feasting on just one baked potato and nothing
else the whole day. It seems there had been a rough time in his life when
that’s all he had to eat one Thanksgiving and, because he was thankful to have had
even that to nourish him he chose to show his appreciation to God by
celebrating the same way every year afterwards. I thought at the time how odd
that was to purposely celebrate alone, but maybe it was, rather, a lesson for
me that the holidays are what we choose to make them.
I am discovering that my
holidays are mostly about people and attitude; specifically, mine. Places,
traditions, food, and decorations are lovely, enriching additions to special
celebrations, but sharing the day with someone I care about is what really creates
the joy for me. So, when Don brought it to our attention that we were embarking
on our Thanksgiving meal, all it took was looking around the table to bring the
holiday feeling to life.
So, this year we dined on
lasagna instead of turkey, lounged on beach chairs instead of in arm chairs,
and ended the night listening to Gangnam Style (http://youtu.be/mIQToVqDMb8) instead of
the season’s first Christmas carols. And I couldn’t have been more thankful!
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