Thanksgiving: The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly

Well, it's that time of year. Time for what I like to call the forgotten holiday. Is it really forgotten? Maybe not but in the past 10 years or so Thanksgiving has been getting pushed into the background thanks to most retailers who start advertising for Christmas on or about July 4th. So, here is the first Good, Bad, & Ugly:

The Good

School Memories-I have fond memories of Thanksgiving as a kid. In school, we would split the class into Pilgrims and Indians and recreate the first Thanksgiving complete with food and a little party. We'd talk about the Pilgrims and how the Indians taught them how to grow corn, stuff like that. It was also a short school week in a month when you were barely there anyway. Holidays like Election Day and Veterans Day and the annual teachers convention pretty much wiped out the entire 3 weeks of November.

Time For Family And Friends-Thanksgiving is probably the biggest holiday to spend with family. I remember spending them at my uncle's house and there were a lot of people. Then when my dad got remarried, we started having dinner with my step-mother's family with nary a blood relative around but the dinners were nice. I don't recall us ever hosting Thanksgiving and never understood why until I got my own house and now I get it. Now, I have my own family. With my nuclear family scattered about the country, I now spend it with my wife and her parents, their friends, and some of my father-in-law's kids and grandkids. And now, I have children and can teach them about this tradition. And, yes, we do have a kids table.

The Football Games-I grew up in a place called Vineland, NJ and went to Vineland High School. We have an annual football game against Millville High School, a neighboring town, and our biggest rival. This rivalry has been going on since the 1893 and is one of the oldest continuing high school rivalries in the country. It's such an intense rivalry that in 145 games, Vineland holds a 63-62-19 edge and this year's game will either put Vineland up by 2 or tie the series. Unfortunately as a player, I never got to beat Millville and because of an unusual set of circumstances I only got to participate in 1 Thanksgiving Day game and that was my senior season in 1982. We lost 16-9. This used to be the game where people would pack in either Gittone Stadium in Vineland or Wheaton Field in Millville sometimes 10 deep and, thankfully, it's always been a friendly rivalry as I don't recall any fights or the like at these games. Of course, there's also the traditional NFL games with whoever plays the Lions and Cowboys. Nothing like vegging in front of the TV after the meal and falling asleep watching the games.

The Food-Thanksgiving is always known as a bountiful feast. The main dish usually being a turkey with all the trimmings. I've made it myself several times and it's really quite easy. And there's nothing quite like leftover turkey. It's been a tradition of mine to make a turkey sandwich on white break with some stuffing and mashed potatoes on it. Nothing gets thrown away and we end up picking on the turkey all week and I've been known to make a turkey soup out of the carcass. And the leftovers end up getting eaten during the week.

The Giving-Thanksgiving isn't just about stuffing yourself or football games. It's for giving thanks for the blessings in your life. And the best way to give thanks is to help out those in need. People who know me know I'm very critical of those who call themselves poor. I see people who call themselves poor drive newer cars than I, have the latest iPhone, wear fancy clothes, and own computers. But I also know that there are truly people in need and who got that way by no fault of their own. The elderly, for example. So, I try to donate food to food banks and the like to help others out and not just during Thanksgiving although this holiday shines the light on this.

Giving Thanks-The best part of this holiday is giving thanks. I know sometimes I tend to not be thankful for what I have and this holiday reminds me how good I have it. I have a job, a wonderful family, and stuff I would have never thought I'd own. I mean, if you told me 20 years ago that I would own an RV I'd have told you you were nuts but lo and behold, I have an RV. But that's not all I'm thankful for. I spent the first 50 years of my life being the only one in my family without children. But God blessed me differently. He spoke to our hearts and told us to be foster parents to children in need and because of that, we've come to adopt 2 beautiful girls who fill my heart with joy...even if they drive me up a wall on occasion but I wouldn't trade them for anything.

The Bad

The Clean up-Not my favorite part. Tons of dishes, utensils, pots and pans. Even cups and saucers that you use for coffee maybe once a year. It was even worse in the days before we got a dishwasher which wasn't until the early 80's.

Being Bloated-You just ate enough food to feed the 7th Army. This is the one holiday where most seem to gorge themselves. There isn't another holiday where you eat quite like Thanksgiving. But then comes the uncomfortable time when you feel like a tick about to burst.

The Leftovers-I know I just said above that leftovers are a good thing but the bad involved is finding room for them. Sometimes there is so much food left over that you need an industrial walk in fridge to store it all so you try to pawn some off on some guests which most rarely take anything home. Maybe some pies and dessert but that's about it.

The Ugly

Black Friday-I'm not talking about the old days when the day after Thanksgiving you roll out of the rack at zero dark thirty and head to your local mall, Walmart, Sears, or wherever waiting for the 5am opening. There's nothing wrong with that and I can safely say that in my 52 years of life I have never, EVER been Black Friday shopping. No, I'm talking about retailers starting Black Friday on Thanksgiving Day. I've gotten flyers for Kohls, Best Buy, and others opening at 5pm Thursday. God forbid people get to spend the day with their families but we the consumer is to blame. If we didn't shop, they wouldn't be open. So think about it before you head out to save $5 on that crockpot.

So, that's it for today. I'd like to wish everyone a very happy and and blessed Thanksgiving and may God bless each and everyone one of you and your families.

The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly Mission Statement

I decided to change up this blog to cover all subjects that interest me from books to music to sports to politics to gaming to pretty much everything. I'm going to cover a myriad of subjects and describe them in the context of what's good about them, bad about them, and ugly about them. This concept is from something I created about 10 years ago as a fan of the Arizona Cardinals. After each game, I would write up a little blurb about the good, the bad, and the ugly on their performance for that day and post it to their official message board. I continued this with the AFSN(Arizona Sports Fan Network) site. And now, I'm going to add that into every day life. Mind you, I have a habit of not mincing words. I do not sugar coat the truth no matter how painful it is to some. And everything is simply my opinion and if it doesn't jibe with your world view, frankly, I don't care. So sit back, enjoy, and don't be afraid to comment but know that if you piss me off, I will not hold back because I'm not concerned about hurting your feelings. And a final word of warning: political correctness has no home here.