Thanksgiving… the Holiday About Food.
A few years back, I was complaining to someone (probably my poor sweet husband) that all everyone cared about at Thanksgiving was eating. Grrr. Thanksgiving is a land mine for those of us who are drawn like a magnet to the holy trinity of fat, salt and sweet.
Anyway, the words came out of my mouth, “Why do people make this holiday all about the food?”, when it dawned on me that it IS a holiday all about the food. There are no presents or Thanksgiving songs. There are no costumes.
They were making it about food because IT IS A HOLIDAY ABOUT FOOD!!!
Turkey and stuffing and gravy and cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes and green bean casserole and pumpkin pie.
To name a few.
It’s tradition.
It’s our ritual.
And then I realized that I totally bought into that idea because for ME, it was a holiday about food.
It’s actually a holiday about gratitude. Oh, yeah. I totally forgot.
So, I stepped away from the fourteen dish meal planning and put a little effort into the whole “thankful” part.
We now have a few new Yale rituals.
We decorate with natural things found in our yard. (It looks better than it sounds.)
We write down what we are thankful for and I put all the slips of paper in a hermetically sealed envelope in my attic like a poorly hidden time capsule.
Well, that’s it so far. But if you have any suggestions for awesome rituals, let me know. Because the more we put the focus on things that fill us in a way that food does not, the more we don’t need food to feel full.
I look forward to a Thanksgiving without elastic waisted pants.
What are you really hungry for?