Take Time to Stop and Smell the Turkey

Every year as department stores prematurely build their holiday displays and slash their prices as soon as the Jack-O-Lanterns are retired from the front porch, something is swept under the mistletoe. Heaps of mashed potatoes and their rivers of gravy are disregarded. Don’t even think of the turkey, unseasoned, still frozen at the supermarket. Even the television loops catchy holiday “jingles” long before the first step of the parade. Thanksgiving, as we know it, is fleeting the minds of many Americans.

For many, the smell of Aunt Eileen’s warm sweet potato casserole won’t awake them, nor will the privilege of stirring the gravy be awarded right before the plates are placed on the mile-long table. Every year without failure, visions of dinner rolls and mashed potato fairies dance through the heads of the thankful on a loop until they pass out in a food-induced coma on a relative’s couch post-Thanksgiving Feast. Eating is what Americans do best, and what better way to celebrate all that one is thankful for than to dine alongside loved ones and indulge oneself the most highly anticipated meal of the year?

When large corporations hypnotize consumers with early Christmas messages, they immediately tuck away the love and harmony experienced upon the celebration of all that one is thankful for. The spirit of the December holidays is to bring peace and goodwill to all, yet in modern times, it welcomes materialism and results in disappointment due to “sub-par presents,” not acknowledging the thought put into seeking the “perfect” gift. Opposite of this money-diluted holiday spirit lies Thanksgiving, a holiday that brings families and friends throughout the nation together to eat a hearty meal together and share what each is thankful for. The spirit of community and giving on the last Thursday in November is unparalleled by any other holiday.

Mountains of dessert on autumnal-colored platters and echoes of laughter through the halls will always warm the senses just as a furnace to the house of the thankful. Yes, holiday miracles will still happen, but nothing will be as magical as the preschool-age handprint turkeys decorating the tablecloth, scattered with thanks from Thanksgiving’s past, present and future. Before you bundle up to shop early on Black Friday this Thanksgiving, as you take your seat and spoon an ample portion of cranberry sauce onto your plate, may you find thanks in the blessings and the love that surround you not only then, but each and every day of the year.

#thanksgiving #holidays