585. Why Thanksgiving Is The Bestest Holiday Ever

I woke up this morning and said, Is today the day—is it Thursday yet? Alas, it was not. It was still dumb ol’ Wednesday, mocking me. Ha! said Wednesday, Fooled you again!

Bizarre dialogues with rude and unwanted filler days like Wednesday aside, I wanted to write a special post about Thanksgiving and why it is the premier holiday on the calendar.

• New Year’s Day is all about hangovers and resolutions. Thanksgiving is all about dressing, pumpkin pie, and football. Point to: Thanksgiving.
• Valentine’s Day focuses on if you have a love interest. Not Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving focuses on turkey. Point to: Thanksgiving.
• St. Patrick’s Day is all about hanging out with friends, drinking beer, and wearing something green. Thanksgiving does not have a dress code (and I do not look good in green). I do like to hang out with friends and drink for no good reason though. Point to: Tie.
• Easter celebrates Jesus, God, and cute bunnies. Thanksgiving celebrates grateful atheists or grateful religious people. Thanksgiving is non-discriminatory. Point to: Thanksgiving!
• Mother’s Day and Father’s Day highlight the sacrifices parents make, while simultaneously making them work hard on the specific day to put together a brunch or something and entertain the kiddos that are supposedly so grateful for mom and dad. Personally, I would like to have a day off. Conclusion: Mother’s Day sucks. Point to: Thanksgiving.
• July 4th. It’s all about celebrating our independence with illegal fireworks, hamburgers, and cheap wine. Hmm … Point: Tie.
• My Birthday. Not a legal holiday in most countries* (*well, any country), yet fun nonetheless. I get to eat cake and choose what flavor. However, the whole USA does not get the day off, so this results in: Tie.
• Halloween dwells on fake mummies, stale candy, and over-sugared children who won’t go to sleep because they are busy being amped up or throwing up. Point to (clearly): Thanksgiving.
• Christmas reminds us to spend time with our families and simultaneously guilts us into buying them gobs of gifts and then stressing out because we worry if they’ll like them. Thanksgiving also involves time with loved ones, but no presents are required or expected, and plus you get to eat turkey. Point to: Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is the day we can sleep in, eat turkey, eat more turkey (did I mention eating turkey?) and not feel bad about it, say what we are thankful for, and play Junior Monopoly with our kids for five hours. As an added bonus, Thanksgiving is paired with a freebie extra day off and lots of football.  It’s my favorite holiday.

Happy Thanksgiving!

MOV

228. Gratitude

So we're sitting at the table, just the four of us, for our Thanksgiving dinner.  My family has this unconventional tradition that before dinner, we go around the table and everyone says what they are thankful for (I know--bizarre!).  Listen in:

Tall:  I'm thankful for my family and all the animals and the world and outer space.
The Husband:  I'm also thankful for my family and that we all have good health.
Me:  I'm thankful for my family, and also that we have good jobs that we love, and that we are all together right now enjoying this wonderful meal.
Short:  I'm thankful for the dinosaurs and the animals from New York.  Amen.  

Is it considered rude to laugh at one's 4-year-old son when he's attempting to have a Serious Moment and share what he's thankful for?  Luckily, I didn't have a gulp of wine in my mouth (because I surely would've had to spit it out).  The Husband and I did our best to suppress smiles. 

(Dinosaurs, I can maybe understand.  But animals?  from New York? We have only one animal, our cat named Kitty who hails from California.  And we've never taken the kids to New York--although we'd like to, it's not on the agenda any time soon.  But it's good to be thankful anyway.) 

MOV
("Monkeys Or Velociraptors?")