What's Thanskgiving without...

...a blog post???

I know, not the most traditional tradition. Most people would answer the question differently. For example:
“What’s Thanksgiving without turkey?”
“Without homemade gravy?”
“Without football?”
“Without sweet potato casserole with mini marshmallows?”

Or maybe you have a slightly different answer such as:
“What’s Thanksgiving without running the Turkey Trot?”
“Without sibling rivalry?”
“Without avoiding the whole damn thing and going out to eat?”

We all hold on to our traditions -- tightly. Just take sweet potatoes. Some people love their sweet potatoes mind-numbingly sweet and topped with mini-marshmallows. Some like sweet potatoes with pepper and salt and construe mini sugar shards as an insult to their social standing. Some people don’t know why you’d screw up Thanksgiving with sweet potatoes at all, even if you call them “yams” for posterity.

Sugar or salt, yams or Yukon, these details that make or break our Thanksgiving celebrations have nothing to do with the Thanksgiving tradition. Thanksgiving, if the history books aren’t lying, was first celebrated in 1621 when the governor of the Plymouth Colony, William Bradford, called for a day of thanksgiving for the bountiful harvest reaped after a harsh winter. The pilgrims celebrated a traditional English feast (perhaps with mini-marshmallows?) and invited their friends (at the time) the Wampanoag tribe.

George Washington first put the capital “T” in Thanksgiving when he made it an official holiday, followed by the great Abraham Lincoln, who consulted with a poet to make the holiday official in all the states. (Editor’s note: I love that he consulted a POET!) Good ideas, but maybe it’s time to change the “T” to a “t”, and give some thanks.

For the pilgrims, the official thanksgiving day was a gesture. In all probability, they had spent most of the previous year in thanksgiving. “Thank you God for shielding my children from small pox.” “Thank you God for good relations with our native American neighbors.” “Thank you God for keeping my wife and child alive through childbirth.” The stakes were life and death back then; the mitigating factors out of their control. As such, God got a whole lot of “shout outs.”

Our enduring Thanksgiving traditions pay homage to the abundance of our country’s natural resources. They memorialize our brave founders. But do they scream out “Thank you!!!!”?

The turkey, or gravy, or pecan pie, are simply Thanksgiving trinkets; small devices that make a universal truth personal and accessible. If we hold them lightly they are reminders for thankfulness -- a dining table bowing from the weight of the turkey reminds us to thank God for the food that feeds us. Homemade gravy prompts gratitude for the many lessons taught by a loving grandmother. Another year fighting with your sister is another year you are both alive.

If Thanksgiving without the football game or bourbon pecan pie leaves you empty and listless, then instead of trinkets making a universal truth accessible, they obscure it.

And if you’re still offended by mini-marshmallows, well…Enjoy the gravy instead, with all its lumps.