Thanksgiving Take Aways

               Another Thanksgiving weekend is in the memory books – or journals – or photo galleries.  I’ve had so many wonderful Thanksgiving memories that it takes me quite a long while to thank God for my many blessings.  Thankfully, the potatoes stay hot! 
               This past Thanksgiving provided me with “take-aways” that weren’t in small boxes, plastic-lidded bowls, or baggies.  In the spirit of the season, I will share them with you, dear readers.

               First and this is actually from a few holidays ago, but nonetheless actually happened: check all your equipment.  There’s not much worse than finding out four hours after placing your turkey in the roaster pan that while the red light is on, the pan is not hot.  That lovely, though mild, turkey smell you are experiencing is merely from the giblets cooking on the stove.  The table is set, the potatoes are on the sideboard, the veggies are being plated and you lift the lid to reveal…a stone-cold, white turkey.

               It’s not great.

               Fortunately, people with wine are flexible and the dinner is postponed a few hours.

               This year I discovered that carb-loading wreaks havoc on my digestive system.  Having completed a full three years of a keto-based diet, I’m at a healthy weight, I feel great, and I am down several sizes.  Eating several servings of stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie results in a massive problem for my intestines. 

               Enough said.

               There’s never a good time for you to lose power, water, or electricity, but Thanksgiving is really not a good time.  Our furnace decided two nights before Thanksgiving that this was the perfect time to have the motherboard (whatever that is) begin to melt.  Being a holiday week, the heating company was quick to come out, assess the problem, and assure us it could be resolved…in 6 days.

               So we spent Thanksgiving weekend with cheerful fires, space heaters, and blankets on our laps.  It wasn’t bad, actually, but my takeaway was that it would have been better a week earlier.  Or later.  Or not at all.

               The annual Thanksgiving Day parade used to be more fun to watch.  Sure, it’s possible that’s because I was younger, but I don’t think so.  There are more balloons, more bands, and it’s longer, so it should be amazing. 

               But the coverage (much like, in my opinion, other events) seemed to focus more on the announcers and their antics and the “celebrities” than on the performances, bands, and actual floats in the parade.  And seriously, Santa should be the crowning star of this parade, not Cher (and I like Cher, it just didn’t seem like she should get more coverage than St. Nick).

               My last takeaway is that we should recognize the strengths of all generations.  The youngers certainly exceed us in their knowledge and use of technology.  They can use Instagram, Facebook, Tick-tock, and Flip-Flop and that is great, especially when we need help with setting up our remote, restoring a deleted phone message, or using our computers.  But don’t let them diss us!

               We can do math in our heads, make change without a calculator, write in cursive, and read actual maps.  We have much for which to give thanks!