The Real Turkey at Thanksgiving

Northside Woman magazine is still working on its web site. I'll post my articles here until NSW is back up and running. -- Amy

One of my favorite Thanksgiving Day traditions is listening to my loved ones give thanks for good health, a loving family and the plethora of casseroles with the main ingredient of cheddar cheese placed before them. I am thankful, in spades, for those very things and so much more.

So why is it I sometimes must resist the urge spurt out unruly thoughts like “I am thankful Target is open today so while you suckers are walking off the 9,000 calories you are about to consume I can check out their selection of holiday cards”?

And this is before I’ve even had a glass of wine.

All kidding aside, I wonder what we would say if we went beyond the obvious and expressed gratitude for the less significant, yet still important, things we appreciate. The underdogs of our thankfulness repertoire, if you will … because sometimes I wonder if we’re missing the real meaning of being thankful by failing to acknowledge the little things. For example, I am thankful for:

Caller ID. Seriously, I have no idea how I was ever brave enough to pick up the phone without knowing if it was a friend from college calling to share a juicy tidbit or a nosy neighbor asking me to watch her twin Tasmanian devils suffering from croup, the measles, and the ebola virus.

My ability to remember the words to every song ever written. Only my children and husband know how I use this talent, along with rather loud singing, to manipulate the atmosphere during any journey in a car.

The fact that digital cameras and Facebook came long after my college days. I have a feeling there are lots of you out there just like me. Feel free to give thanks at the table this year.

Salt-and-vinegar-flavored potato chips. I can only imagine the offense which would be taken if I offered thanks for chips while seated in the hemisphere with Aunt Betty’s sweet potato pie, but there is no problem in the world I cannot solve with the assistance of a good product from Frito-Lay. Well, perhaps there are some algebraic equations, but that’s for another article.

That in the world of pre-teens, a Pop-Tart will suffice as breakfast until an adult is awake. The day that I woke up to discover my children had advanced to fetching themselves sustenance and maneuvering the remote was better than when they slept through the night for the first time.

My husband’s willingness to do the bulk of the weekly grocery shopping. He was driven to this course of action by complete desperation (either he’d go to the store or we would subsist on 8-day-old celery and peanut butter.) Fifteen years later, I remain extremely grateful.

This season, let’s remember being constantly thankful for things that seem trivial allows us to appreciate our many more substantial blessings more keenly.

That, and drinking a glass of wine before stuffing yourself with turkey has the potential to end with Aunt Betty snatching up her casserole and storming out. If this happens, I suggest consoling yourself with potato chips.

©2010 Amy McCormick Dawson. All Rights Reserved.