My Thanksgiving is Perpetual - Henry David Thoreau

I realize that a fair amount of us - myself included - are kinda fast-forwarding through Thanksgiving and diving into Christmas this year.

Which is fair because we kinda need it this year - peppermint lattes, mulled wine, the soft glow of lights, the invariable argument about white/yellow and their trashbag counterpart, blinking colored lights, screenings of Home Alone and Die Hard, Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You and a general feeling of what the Danish called hygge - coziness and sense of well-being.

Great things all, but I would be remiss if I didn’t say something about my favorite holiday - Thanksgiving.

This year’s holiday is going to be tough as we try to do the right thing and stay small and local in order to stay safe.

No cavalcade of cousins, no setting up card tables in the living room, none of Aunt Brenda’s bourbon-whipped sweet potato casserole.

(Sidebar: I worked with a woman named Brenda who made the best sweet potatoes I’ve ever had in my life....and I don’t even really like sweet potatoes. I think about her every damn year and hope she’s still making them)

Grace might be a little tougher to mine in a year that has taken so much from us - financially, emotionally and physically.

But, we owe it to ourselves - for our own psychic self-preservation- to clutch onto the spirit of this holiday, stripped down as it might be.

Thanksgiving doesn’t have to be a 20lbs turkey with all the trimmings.

Yeah, it sucks that you won’t get your mom’s homemade mashed potatoes and gravy but you know what doesn’t suck? Eating your other favorite foods until you hate yourself and then saying, “Wait. There’s dessert...?”

This year, Thanksgiving can be Massaman Curry and a shitload of biscuits followed by polishing off half a sleeve of Double Stuf Oreos with “good” ice cream and not the shitty store brand you usually buy.

Yeah, not seeing your friends and favorite family members sucks but you know what’s awesome? Telling people you love the shit out of them.

Fire off a text to your sibling/cousin to tell them you’re so grateful they are part of the same family and that you really appreciated all of the years past where you snuck out behind the garage with them to smoke a joint.

Send a Facebook message to your favorite aunt to tell her that she makes the best macaroni and cheese and all others are pretenders to the throne. She’ll be thrilled.

Call your mom or whoever in your life tells you to drink more water and that Aldi is having a sale on pomegranates and do you want some? Tell them you love them...and yes, you would like some pomegranates.

Recall memories of years past with warmth and joy and share them...and be eternally grateful that this year, you don’t have to argue with your racist uncle about Trump losing the election.

Keeping in line with the whole fast-forwarding to Christmas thing, I’m reminded of one of my favorite Christmas movies - Scrooged.

(If you haven’t seen it, literally what the fuck are you wasting your life doing right now? What, are you too good for Bill Murray - America’s greatest treasure? Go watch it!)

The denouement features one of my favorite quotes of all time - something I love so much, I put it on my holiday cards:

For a couple of hours out of the whole year, we are the people that we always hoped we would be!

It's a miracle, it's really, a sort of a miracle because it happens every Christmas Eve.

And if you waste that miracle, you're gonna burn for it. I know what I'm talking about.

You have to do something. You have to take a chance. You do have to get involved.

There are people that are having, having trouble making their miracle happen. There are people that don't have enough to eat, and there are people that are cold. You can go out and say 'hello' to these people. You can take an old blanket out of the closet and say, 'here.' You can make 'em a sandwich, and say 'Oh, by the way, here!' I get it now!

And if you, if you give, then you, then it can happen. Then the miracle can happen to you. It's not just the poor and the hungry, it's, it's everybody that's gotta have this miracle! And it can happen tonight for all of you!

If you believe in this pure thing, you'll, the miracle will happen and then you'll want it to happen again tomorrow!

2020 was a blighted hellscape of a year where so many lost so much and if anyone needs a miracle right now, it’s humanity.

I am not a person of faith and unlikely to believe in a Deus ex Machina or miracles BUT I do believe that we have a chance to be the people we always hoped we could be; the people our dogs think we are.

Donate to a non-profit that supports a cause you believe in, support a small business in your community, make a big ass casserole for a neighbor.

Reach out to someone and say you’re so fucking glad they’re here - alive and on this planet with you.

This year has been hard and much like during the Cheer Up, Charlie number during Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - the urge to just fast forward and get it over with is understandable.

But I’m holding strong to the ideals that make Thanksgiving my favorite holiday - people I love, eating shitload of carbs and being grateful for all I am lucky enough to hold onto with both hands.

Especially this guy.

Happy Thanksgiving.
I love the shit out of you.
Stay safe and healthy.