Growing up in the 60's and 70's, Thanksgiving was always one of my favourite holiday's. While we all enjoyed turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and the like, there was always an air of selflessness around our home. Parents would often invite family, friends and acquaintances for dinner, wine and to share the blessings of the day. I hope that I have lived up to my parents example.
My folks always made the holiday seem so effortless and simple. Mom and Dad would work in the kitchen, to prepare all the trimmings, and it seemed they didn't really put a ton of effort into the day. Thirty years later, and a couple of dozen Thanksgiving dinners, I realize how wrong I was.
I still love the holiday - and always will, but I realize now that there was a lot more effort required, just to have the feast prepared. The turkey needed 4-5 hours in the oven, stuffing would have taken hours to prepare and insert into the bird, and then there was the home made pies. Getting the pumpkin cut, mashed, cooked and mixed just right for pumpkin pies is an art-form in itself.
While my parent's place always seems extensively clean, my Mother would still spend hours vacuuming, sweeping, washing floors, and dusting just to ensure the guests had a clean environment to come into.
As kids, we never really appreciated all the time and effort they spent preparing for a 30 minute dinner and a few hours of football watching. There always seemed to be a Riders game on Sunday night back in the day. It must have been Ottawa vs Montreal as Dad would always say how important the game was.
As an adult with a multitude of people coming over, I am fully cognizant of the work involved. With my kids coming over, grandchildren, a couple of friends and in-laws, we wanted to make the afternoon as pleasant for them as it was for us - growing up. The work involved is incredible. Cleaning, cooking, preparing, rearranging for the crowd, and all the other things we notice as we wander around trying to find things out_of-place.
We spent literally 2 days preparing for an afternoon/evening. Grocery shopping for those last minute items we always seem to forget, cleaning, preparing the food, it all seems so surreal. I never could have imagined just how difficult it is to prepare for a hoard of people. As I'm writing this I realized I forgot the wine, so I'll heading out shortly for that last minute mix-up.
The main message of this day is to give thanks for what we have (not what we feel we are entitled to). Our blessings are many, but most of them are by sheer luck of the draw; the family we were born into, the country we live in, the race we are, our religion, the education we have, all of these are literally out of our control.
On a day like this, where we all pause for reflection, let's take a minute and reflect on just how lucky we are to be where we are. Even those who may be having troubles in life, you can be thankful you are Canadian (or American), not born in a war-torn country, not oppressed by a dictatorship, not in a country where you cannot freely practice your religion of choice, and many other blessings and freedoms you have 'by accident'.
Of course you can also always thank that turkey who gave his life so we can fill our Thanksgiving dinner plate. And - for my wife, who kicked me out of the kitchen hours earlier, thank you for all your hard work and dedication!
My folks always made the holiday seem so effortless and simple. Mom and Dad would work in the kitchen, to prepare all the trimmings, and it seemed they didn't really put a ton of effort into the day. Thirty years later, and a couple of dozen Thanksgiving dinners, I realize how wrong I was.
I still love the holiday - and always will, but I realize now that there was a lot more effort required, just to have the feast prepared. The turkey needed 4-5 hours in the oven, stuffing would have taken hours to prepare and insert into the bird, and then there was the home made pies. Getting the pumpkin cut, mashed, cooked and mixed just right for pumpkin pies is an art-form in itself.
While my parent's place always seems extensively clean, my Mother would still spend hours vacuuming, sweeping, washing floors, and dusting just to ensure the guests had a clean environment to come into.
As kids, we never really appreciated all the time and effort they spent preparing for a 30 minute dinner and a few hours of football watching. There always seemed to be a Riders game on Sunday night back in the day. It must have been Ottawa vs Montreal as Dad would always say how important the game was.
As an adult with a multitude of people coming over, I am fully cognizant of the work involved. With my kids coming over, grandchildren, a couple of friends and in-laws, we wanted to make the afternoon as pleasant for them as it was for us - growing up. The work involved is incredible. Cleaning, cooking, preparing, rearranging for the crowd, and all the other things we notice as we wander around trying to find things out_of-place.
The main message of this day is to give thanks for what we have (not what we feel we are entitled to). Our blessings are many, but most of them are by sheer luck of the draw; the family we were born into, the country we live in, the race we are, our religion, the education we have, all of these are literally out of our control.
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| By Brian Teutsch - originally posted to Flickr as Stuffed turkey, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4072586 |
Of course you can also always thank that turkey who gave his life so we can fill our Thanksgiving dinner plate. And - for my wife, who kicked me out of the kitchen hours earlier, thank you for all your hard work and dedication!
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