Midweek Miscellany: Turkey Day

• While Thanksgiving has never been my favorite, I still think it’s a great holiday. Food. Football. What more do you need? I’m so glad President Lincoln decided to celebrate Thanksgiving instead of Evacuation Day.
• Can you imagine how horrible that parade would be? I’d much rather watch spectacular balloons at the Macy’s parade and reminisce about the days when I marched in the Springfield Thanksgiving Parade with colorguard.
• We usually stuck around home for Thanksgiving when I was in high school, but for the past four years I’ve always been travelling for Thanksgiving–be it to Missouri or Ireland, NBD. But this year my family is coming to visit me, I’m pretty excited! An estimated 4.2 million people will be travelling for the holiday despite bad weather, crowded airports, and Ghostbusters style goo on the highway.
• I’m pretty pumped to be “hosting,” even though my kitchen is a bit small to be cooking a big meal. I don’t really like oven roasted turkey and my apartment building probably wouldn’t want me deep frying one since William Shatner says it’s dangerous. So no turkey this year. Instead, we’re having sweet potato/squash lasagna and mint ice cream brownies.
• A traditional Thanksgiving meal is not our forte. But good news, even without the tryptophan, we still have an excuse for an afternoon nap. Not that I ever need an excuse to sleep.
• One tradition my family does have is to get up insanely early and go Black Friday shopping. Well, let me correct myself, the real tradition lies in buying a newspaper on Thursday and looking through the sale ads. If there’s nothing we want/need, then we don’t go just for the sake of going. If you’re venturing out this year, here’s some useful tips for fighting the crowd.
• As commercial as U.S. holidays have become, it’s nice to be reminded to step back and be thankful for all we have: family, friends, freedom. I never really thought much of Thanksgiving until I studied abroad. One of my Hungarian friends commented that he wished my beloved Magyarország had a holiday to celebrate something not regime changes and wars. It’s great to have an excuse to be thankful. I hope you stop and consider how lucky you are while enjoying your holiday pie this year.

Have a very happy Thanksgiving!

-A

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