Respect the Turkey!

I love Thanksgiving.  It’s the one holiday that is all about tradition.  And, for the last 25+ years, we’ve celebrated Thanksgiving at my house.   Over the years, the crowd has changed.  Children have gotten older, different family members come or don’t come.  We cook the turkey, dressing and few side dishes, and everybody brings side dishes too.  Lots of side dishes.  Yes, we could feed a small army, but we eat like a small army, so works out just fine.

My typical Thanksgiving starts off by getting up really early to get the turkey on the grill by 6:30 or 7a.  Yes, I cook the turkey on the grill, and it works great.  Plus, it frees up the oven for all the other things.  I then head out for a long run by myself to justify the large quantities of food that I intend to eat. Over the years, my long run has gotten shorter… This year it was only 4 miles. I figure by the time I’m 60, it will be a walk to the mailbox and back!  Yes, some traditions remain and others diminish!   I spend the rest of the morning getting everything ready. We normally eat around 1:30ish, hang out and keep eating until about 5ish then go see a Hockey game in the evening.   Not everyone’s tradition, but it works for us. 

At some point over the years, we started decorating our home for Christmas in time to be ready for our Thanksgiving guests.  So, we basically get through Halloween, put a few fall decorations up for a few weeks, then start putting up trees the weekend before Thanksgiving.   We are totally decorated by Thanksgiving Day. 

I posted that I was decorating for Christmas on Facebook, and I got a response from one of my daughter’s friends….RESPECT THE TURKEY!    It made me chuckle!  But she defended her statement.  This sweet young woman said that Thanksgiving was her favorite holiday, and that it was starting to get completely overlooked.  Stores decorated for Christmas before Halloween, and then there were the Black Friday sales that started the Christmas season.  This year, many of those started Thanksgiving night.  She’s right that there aren’t many decorations for Thanksgiving. 

But the more I thought about it, the more I defended my position.  There’s still the dinner with the family, the Thanksgiving Day parade, football, hockey, and all the leftovers.   It’s not overlooked, it just not as decorated as it used to be. Just how many pilgrims, pumpkins, gourds and fall leaves can you have around your house, and how long do you want them there?  I was tired of the fall decorations about 2 weeks after I put them up.  Besides, our business gets CRAZY after Thanksgiving, so we rarely have a free day to put up decorations after that.  Decorating early for Christmas makes the entire month of December easier!  And, I’m all for making December just a tad bit easier.

So…. I’m not  ‘DISSING the Turkey’…. I’m actually  letting the Turkey lead the Christmas Parade!