by Trent Rosser
Thanksgiving is a time to be grateful for what we have. Right now, I am grateful that I am not a turkey. I am definitely glad that I am not a turducken. If you do not know what a turducken is, let me explain. A regular Thanksgiving turkey is stuffed with.... stuffing. A turducken is a stuffing, stuffedinside of a chicken, which is then stuffed inside of a duck, which is then stuffed inside of a turkey. To me, that just sounds.... weird. But then again, I have never been much of a turkey eater, or a duck eater for that matter. So I believe that is something I will probably never try.
This year, we had Thanksgiving early and had it at our house. The trouble with the holidays is trying to get to all the family functions without upsetting anyone. I have my mothers, my fathers, my brothers, and that is not including all the different in-laws we have to go to. Plus having to work on Thanksgiving puts us in quite a bind. So this year we just did a small Thanksgiving dinner this past Monday. It was good. I cooked a ham and my wife did everything else. My first serving consisted of a little ham, a little turkey, a little more ham, a couple of deviled eggs, a little more ham, stuffing with gravy, a little more ham. Yes, I love a good ham. That and real mash potatoes. Unfortunately, there was a small miscalculation.
We have a grandson who is just under 2 years old. We put him in his chair and fixed his plate for him. He wanted nothing to do with the chair. He wanted in my lap, so I tried to eat with him in my lap, Then he wanted in my wife's lap. She tried to eat but it is very hard with a kid squirming around. We were passing his plate from one person to another. Finally we had enough and made him sit in his chair. So our little grandson, sitting in his booster seat, did something that made me cringe and be proud. He started a food fight with his mash potatoes. Did you know that when you laugh so hard and cranberry sauce come out of your nose, it burns! Yes it does! It is hard to keep a straight face when you are talking with your wife and a large wad of potatoes come flying across the room. I do not know what was better, his laughing or the look of shock on the face of his mother! We spent the last 2 days working on a deep cleaning of the house and within 5 minutes it was destroyed. We were not too upset. It was well worth it. Everyone had a good time and we all ate very well. we are going to live off of this meal all week. Lots of leftovers.
Years ago, I spent Thanksgiving at the Salvation Army. I was homeless at the time and I was alone. Even though there were many people eating around me, I had never felt so alone. I will go into the homeless situation at another time, but looking back to where I was, and where I am at now.... I am thankful. I have a great family that gets together when we can. Family does not always get along, we fight, we cry, and we love. Think about the people that are homeless or have no family, or both. Be thankful for what you have. You may not have much, but it is more than some people have at all. And if you cannot find anything to be thankful for, be thankful that you don't have a 90 mph wad of potatoes coming at you, or be thankful you are not a turducken!
Happy Thanksgiving!
