HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Everyone’s favorite holiday.

Well, many of us, due to its low-keyness and lack of present expectations/gift giving pressure.

I’m grateful for a relaxed, long weekend.

But our holiday got off to an inauspicious start when My Captor and I went to select our turkey, and she thought a boneless breast would be a “good idea”.   

I reluctantly agreed, but did an “Old Man Rant” in my inside voice about the changes it would mean for our usual Thanksgiving morning routine:

I handle turkey prep, washing, drying, and covering Tom with flavorful spices. And myself, wanting to be “one with Tom”;

Tom’s cavity is then packed with stuffing, but only after obtaining written permission, and attending a session on “respecting boundaries”;

Once Tom is in the oven, slathered in butter – as am I, again to be “one with Tom”, but also to relive one of my favorite College weekends, the cooking process begins, the best part being that ‘whole house turkey aroma’.

The holiday wouldn’t be the same without that aroma…

Fortunately, My Captor saw the conflicted look on my face – she either understood my aroma concern, or knew that I’d found some bit of last night’s dinner and was trying to identify it.

Fortunately, it was the former, because she bought a can of “Whole house turkey aroma” spray.

The good news: I will still be intimately involved in turkey prep, pre-heating the oven.

One tradition preserved.

But like so many of our holidays, we brush aside the atrocities hidden underneath.

When the pilgrims arrived, after fleeing England to avoid religious persecution and the boring nil-nil games so common in soccer, they found Native Americans, already here.

Sort of like that confusing moment when you arrive at a restaurant before it opens and there’s already a line.

And despite the pilgrim’s poor behavior: parking in tow away zones, snarky tweets, and ‘colonizing, brutalizing and raping the locals’ -try recreating that in a school play -the locals were still willing to aid their acclimation.

They taught them to grow corn, adjust to daylight saving time, the recipe for celery stuffed with spray cheese, and the hidden ball trick – which has been used annually by the Lions in their Thanksgiving Day game.

In ‘return’, the Native Americans were not allowed to join the Pilgrims’ bowling league, forcing them to start their own league on Tuesdays, the least popular night.

In addition to gratitude, the holiday is about traditions:

The family Turkey Bowl, which ends when enough of the adults have pulled something;

Day drinking, which makes it easier to be surprised when the Lions pull the hidden ball trick;

The ‘after dinner walk’, which shuffles slowly due to all the pulled muscles from the Turkey Bowl.

Once Tom is freed from the oven, and renounced on Twitter for his sodium content, we sit down to dinner: turkey with many of the trimmings.

But first, the pre-Thanksgiving dinner tradition, when each diner responds to “What are you thankful for?”, aka the ‘Gratitude Moment’.

The answers range from: “My family, my friends”, “What they said” to “They’re building a Buc-ees nearby”.     

Later, as we settled into our food comas, I wondered “What if the ‘gratitude moment’ became an ongoing, year-round thing?”

What if we woke up every day and were grateful for the gifts we’ve been given, beginning each day reminding ourselves how lucky we are to have another one?  

Woke up and remembered each day is a gift from God, and we do Him – and ourselves – honor by making the most of each one?

For 135 more posts like this –each with cranberries – go to beersatthenifty.com. Your phone will display every post, and you can waste an hour or two.

Or, at the site, leave a comment on this post, and then check the box that says “Please notify me of future posts” and you will be sent the newest Sunday update automatically.  

Easier yet, when you read a post, after 15 seconds you’ll be given the chance to become a subscriber: Life gets better and better!

Or just forward this to everyone you know. Forward it to those you aren’t fond of twice.

TO ENHANCE YOUR ENJOYMENT OF THIS POST, PAIR IT WITH THE FOLLOWING SONGS:

Simple Song   The Shins

Well this is just a simple song
To say what you’ve done
I told you about all those fears
And away they did run
You sure must be strong
And you feel like an ocean
Being warmed by the sun

When I was just nine years old
I swear that I dreamed
Your face on a football field
And a kiss that I kept
Under my vest
Apart from everything
But the heart in my chest

I know that things can really get rough when you go it alone
Don’t go thinking you gotta be tough, to play like a stone
Could be there’s nothing else in our lives so critical
As this little hole

My life in an upturned boat, marooned on a cliff
You brought me a great big flood
And you gave me a lift
To care, what a gift
You tell me with your tongue
And your breath was in my lungs
And you float over the rift

I know that things can really get rough when you go it alone
Don’t go thinking you gotta be tough, to play like a stone
Could be there’s nothing else in our lives so critical
As this little hole

Well this will be a simple song
To say what you’ve done
I told you about all those years
And away they did run
You sure must be strong
And you feel like an ocean
Being warmed by the sun

Remember walking a mile to your house, a glow in the dark
I made a fumblin’ play for your heart and the extra, the spark
You wore a charm in the chain that I stole especially for you
Love’s such a delicate thing that we do, we’ve nothing to prove
Which I never knew

Mashed Potatoes  James Brown

“Mashed Potatoes” one more time!
Whoo! Well!
Gettin’ my potatoes, yeah! Oh yeah!
Fresh mashed potatoes, yeah!
Ha, well, come on and do it, ha
Say it!
Ah! Mashed potatoes, ah!
Gettin’ my potatoes, yeah!
Byrd! Wanna get in these potatoes, brother? (Yeah?)
Gettin’ mashed potatoes, yeah yeah
(Taters!)
Gettin’ my mashed potatoes! (Potatoes!)
Ha-ha (ho), french fry ’em! (taters!), hey, ho
French fried potatoes, yeah! (hey)
(Taters!) Bought ’em
(Fry ’em!) Candied yam!
(Yeah!) Ha, ha
Turn it down, ho!
Mashed potatoes! (French fries!)
Heeey! Ha, ha
Mashed potatoes, yeah! Say it!
Ha-ha (Taters!)
Oh yeah! (Taters!)
Mashed potatoes! (Need some taters!)
Need my mashed potatoes! (Potatoes!)
A-ha, doing the Mashed Potatoes, yeah!
A-ha (Taters, do the taters!)

Come on! I’m on one leg now, brother
(Yeah, french fries time!)
You gotta mash ’em!
Can I mash ’em? (Yeah!)
Mashed Potatoes one more time!
In Boston, they’re doing the Mashed Potato
(Yeah!) And New Zealand [?] doin’ the Mashed Potato
(Yeah!) In Los Angeles, they’re doin’ the Mashed Potato
(In [?] doing the Mashed Potatoes!)
In [?], they’re doin’ the Mashed Potato
(They’re even doing it down in Tacoma!)

Do the Mashed Potatoes in New York City!
(Do the Mashed Potatoes in New Jersey!)
Way over in Chicago, ha ha!
(Down in Virginia!) And Detroit!
Raleigh, North Carolina! A-ha!

All aboard for the Mashed Potatoes!
(Greensboro!) Charlotte!
Miami, Florida!
(Winston-Salem!) Jacksonville, a-ha-ha
Birmingham! Tulsa, Oklahoma!
Oklahoma City, do the Mashed Potatoes!

(Kansas City!) Way out in [?]
Ooh, yes-ah! Alright! Philadelphia!
Georgiawood (Yeah!), do the mashed Potatoes!
Washington, D.C.!
(New York City!) The Alligator!
The palonator! [?] (Yeah!) Ha!

In Cleveland, Ohio! (Dayton!)
Cincinnati, yeah yeah yeah
(In Tuleno [?]), Nashville, remember
(Yeah!) Jackson, Tennessee
Do the Mashed Potatoes, yeah!

I want to thank you    Otis Redding

I want to thank you for being so nice now
I want to thank you for giving me my pride
Sweet kisses too
And everything you do
I know I’ll never find another one like you
If I prove my love it won’t be true
Oh my my darling
How can I forget you

I remember the first day that we met
I taught you how to smoke your first cigarette
You were so sweet
In everything you did
And oh darling
You made me seem so big
Just to have you right there in my arms
Just to hold
To squeeze all of your sweet loving charm

I wanna thank you
Darling I wanna love you

I wanna thank you again and say bye bye
I wanna thank you again
Oh how I will cry
Sweet kisses to you and everything you do
Darling I wish I had another one like you
Just to hold you
Have them in my arms
It will bring back memories
And all of your sweet loving charm

I wanna thank you
Darling I want to love you
Baby I wanna hold you
Please let me kiss you

Stowaway in your heart   Lucinda Williams

Thank you for giving me a place to keep my love
I don’t need anything special, none of that stuff
I’m a stowaway in your heart and that’s enough
Thank you for giving me a place to keep my love
Thank you for giving me a place to close my eyes
You don’t have to promise heaven or paradise
I’m a stowaway in your heart and that’s the prize
Thank you for giving me a place to close my eyes
Thank you for giving me a place to take my blue
Don’t have to say Hail Mary or halleluh
I’m a stowaway in your heart and that will do
Thank you for giving me a place to take my blue
Thank you for giving me a place to hang around
You don’t have to be an angel or wear a crown
I’m a stowaway in your heart, I won’t make a sound
Thank you for giving me a place to hang around
Thank you for giving me a place to keep my love
Thank you for giving me a place to close my eyes
Thank you for giving me a place to take my blue
Thank you for giving me a place to hang around
I’m a stowaway in your heart
I’m a stowaway in your heart

Days    The Kinks

Thank you for the days
Those endless days, those sacred days you gave me
I’m thinking of the days
I won’t forget a single day, believe me

I bless the light
I bless the light that lights on you, believe me
And though you’re gone
You’re with me every single day, believe me

Days I’ll remember all my life
Days when you can’t see wrong from right
You took my life
But then I knew that very soon you’d leave me

But it’s all right
Now I’m not frightened of this world, believe me
I wish today could be tomorrow
The night is dark, it just brings sorrow, let it wait

Thank you for the days
Those endless days, those sacred days you gave me
I’m thinking of the days
I won’t forget a single day, believe me

Days I’ll remember all my life
Days when you can’t see wrong from right
You took my life
But then I knew that very soon you’d leave me

But it’s all right
Now I’m not frightened of this world, believe me

Eeh

Thank you for the days
Those endless days, those sacred days you gave me
I’m thinking of the days
I won’t forget a single day, believe me

I bless the light
I bless the light that shines on you, believe me
And though you’re gone
You’re with me every single day, believe me

Days

Thanksgiving Prayer   Johnny Cash

(Music and Lyrics by Josef Anderson)
(Also known as “I’m Thanking the Lord He Made You”)
(From the album “Johnny Cash – Unsurpassed American Masters”)

We’ve come to the time in the season
When family and friends gather near
To offer a prayer of Thanksgiving
For blessings we’ve known through the year
To join hands and thank the creator
And now when Thanksgiving is due
This year when I count my blessings
I’m thanking the Lord He made you
This year when I count my blessings
I’m thanking the Lord He made you

I’m grateful for the laughter of children
The sun and the wind and the rain
The color of blue in your sweet eyes
The sight of a high “ballin” train
The moon rise over a prairie
Old love that you’ve made new
This year when I count my blessings
I’m thanking the Lord He made you
This year when I count my blessings
I’m thanking the Lord He made you

And when the time comes to be going
It won’t be in sorrow and tear
I’ll kiss you goodbye and I’ll go on my way
Grateful for all of the years
I thank for all that you gave me
For teaching me what love can do
Thanksgiving day for the rest of my life
I’m thanking the Lord He made you
Thanksgiving day for the rest of my life
I’m thanking the Lord He made you