I'm going to take a little break from talking about teachers in order to show appreciation for the holiday at hand, the whole motivation behind starting this little tribute journal: Thanksgiving.
I love Thanksgiving. Of course Christmas is my favorite holiday, but Thanksgiving is certainly standing strong in second place. I think I love it for a lot of things:
The Parade. I've never been big into parades in towns or anything like that. I actually think they're a bit on the silly side... and I think that's thanks to my obsession with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. If a parade isn't like that, I feel like it's a bit of a waste of my time. It was never a huge tradition in my family to watch it. I just really grew attached over the years to the grand spectacle it is hyped up to be. If I don't get food for Thanksgiving, watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is enough for me to feel "full" of the holiday. I love New York; I love knowing that one day, I'm going to get to stand on those streets and watch that parade in real life; I love the glitz and glamor; I love the costumes, the floats, the music; I love that is ringing in the Christmas season with absolute age-old, vintage classiness.
The Shopping. Black Friday. I love it. I've gone the last few years, and I find it such a rush to be in those crowds, working your way to that thing that you want to purchase the most. The deals are often mind-blowing. This year, I didn't go, because I'm trying to keep things steady financially. But I lived vicariously through the tweets, the blog posts, the Facebook status updates, etc. It was hilarious reading about people's run-ins with other shoppers. It was so amazing to see what people accomplished in those hours and who shopped the longest (one friend shopped for SEVENTEEN hours straight). I loved seeing the bargains people walked away with. It's just the hustle and bustle. I love it.
Family and Food. Here's the deal: what I always remember about Thanksgiving in the Jeffries home is eating a huge Thanksgiving "linner" (late lunch, early dinner). It was about the food. My mom would wake up early, early, early and start cooking for the day. By 9 AM, the house was warm and the air was full of the delectable smells coming from the kitchen. It was always pretty traditional, with turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes and gravy and rolls. Our family often had pecan pie or peanut butter pie or pumpkin pie, ice cream, green beans with bacon. Just lots and lots of food. That my mom slaved away on. We'd pull out the nice China dishes, clean the kitchen and chow down. Again, like most people, by the time we finished eating, it was "food coma" time. That meant after the dishes were clean, we'd take a nap.
These last few fourth Thursdays in November I've spent away from my family in Texas. I think the last time I had Thanksgiving dinner in Texas was in 2006, now that I think about it. Five years. Before this year, I sort of didn't care how I spent Thanksgiving. If it wasn't with my family, I didn't really want to spend it with anyone else's. I was content making my stuffing and that would be enough for me. This year, I decided to go all out. I woke up at 7:30 AM and worked on the meal. I cooked everything I could think that mom cooked, even the green beans with bacon (they weren't nearly as good as Mom's, but I tried!).
I grew a new-found respect for my mother in her efforts each big holiday to cook for our family. I had no idea how many hours and how much work went into each little thing. As soon as the meal was over, Martha and I cleaned the kitchen and dishes. As soon as that was done, I took a nice nap to sleep off the "food coma." Just like home.What Thanksgiving Represents. Most importantly, above all of these things, Thanksgiving is a time for us to give thanks. While, yes, we should do this everyday of every year, it is a time when most of us get the time away from our regular lives to say "thank you" to whomever, or whatever, we feel needs or deserves it. Thanksgiving is a sweet holiday meant to be spent with those we love and appreciate. If we can't be with them, we can at least say "thank you" to them and for them.
I'm thankful for each and every one of my loved ones, wherever you may be. Happy Thanksgiving.
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