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Grateful to be Together, Wherever
I have a picture in my mind of the traditional Thanksgiving—crisp fall weather, turkey and stuffing, a table laid with china, a blur of extended family and a lifetime of shared memories. And though that picture lingers in my mind as someone’s tradition, it’s never been ours, and certainly will not be this year.
This Thanksgiving we’ll be on the beach, a thousand miles, vaguely, from our various homes, having assembled from even more various points—my dad has been in Europe for almost a month, and my brother and Joe left six weeks ago for a two-year sailing trip, and this is the first time we’re seeing them since their departure. Todd’s girlfriend came in from Los Angeles, and her parents will join us for the holiday. My husband, our son, my mother, and Joe’s girlfriend bring our number to ten.
Thanksgiving Day falls on my mom’s birthday this year, and she’s asked for one birthday wish: that no one cooks that day. She doesn’t want to spend her birthday in the kitchen worrying over a turkey when she could be playing on the beach with her grandson or listening to Todd’s stories of life at sea.
She knows that the Thanksgiving Day meal is not one you can do halfway, and that even if someone else (read: me) swears that she’ll take care of it entirely, it would overwhelm a lone cook and draw my mother inevitably into the kitchen, off the beach, and away from Henry and Todd.
We like her birthday wish, and we’re thinking of ordering the meal from the hotel down the street. We’ve done it before, at this hotel and at assorted hotels and grocery stores near our equally assorted Thanksgiving locations.
Here, when we pull up in the golf cart, they serve hot spiced cider in paper cups and load a turkey, etc., into the back of the cart in a cardboard box. It’s delightfully incongruous—the autumn taste of spiced cider in the hot salty air, the heavy, formal food in a cardboard box in a golf cart, and all of us in flip flops, sticking our fingers in the sweet potatoes as we unpack the boxes.
It is, I suppose, our own nod toward tradition. There’s no china, no bright chill in the air and no clattering kitchen drama. But it is always us, our little family and the friends who feel like family, and the various takeout containers that we spread along the kitchen counter, eating straight out of the boxes.
And wherever we’ve been, whatever we eat, whatever box it comes in or hands that prepare it, there’s always gratitude. We talk during the meal about thankfulness, to God and one another, for the richness of life and the gift of family, wherever and whenever we experience it.
My dad mentioned something this year about sushi instead, and I suspect that the collective fondness for stuffing and pumpkin pie will overrule his suggestion, but you never know. We may talk about gratitude this year over sashimi and spicy tuna, and quite possibly a new tradition will be born.
Shauna Niequist lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with her husband Aaron and their son Henry. Her first book, "Cold Tangerines," is a collection of essays that celebrate everyday life.
By Shauna Niequist |
November 21, 2007; 10:40 AM ET
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Posted by: Courtney | February 1, 2008 3:10 PM
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shauna, you bring a refreshing light to an old tradition! thank you for sharing! please continue to write and i am looking forward to the next book!
Posted by: Courtney | February 1, 2008 3:07 PM
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shauna, you bring a refreshing light to an old tradition! thank you for sharing! please continue to write and i am looking forward to the next book!
Posted by: Courtney | February 1, 2008 3:07 PM
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It was a great thanksgiving.
Looking forward to more...
joe
Posted by: joe | December 4, 2007 7:51 AM
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It was a great thanksgiving.
Looking forward to more...
joe
Posted by: joe | December 4, 2007 7:49 AM
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Thanks for sharing your holiday with us.
Posted by: Anonymous | November 27, 2007 11:09 AM
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*giving hands a break from potato-peeling.*
"Note: Mr President Richard M. Nixon [pbuh] was a Quaker, does that make him a Quack?! Or a Moron??????"
Simultaneously being a Quaker and Richard Nikon certainly would have to take some kind of selective reasoning, but in fact he switched to being a.... Conservative Methodist, (suggest a fact check) I think it was, before he got all Red-scare proto-Neocon wacky.
Happy Thanksgiving, JJ.
Posted by: Paganplace | November 22, 2007 4:34 PM
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you are a good looking lady.
Posted by: commentator | November 21, 2007 3:39 PM
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Jacob Jozevz, it's looking bad for your boy.
Pootarack came into the public house and as he sat down Doodle ask him if he was gonna vote for Romney. "Heck no" he said, "I'm not voting for no moron." Butch piped in, "you voted for Bush didn't you."
You gonna need to work hard for Poot's vote.
Posted by: Anonymous | November 21, 2007 3:25 PM
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Anonymous:
You took the words right out of my mouth.
Thanksgiving - to Native Americans
Maybe we can catch them out of the country and "secure our borders" get rid of the European misfits that came sneaking into our country.
America for Americans I say. English like Spanish is a foreign language.
I wonder how the massive financial institution failures will effect "rich white folks" don't you? One of those Harvard trained bankers got 131 million "to soothe his jangled nerves" when his bank found out how well he had managed it and "fired" him, (fire me already if that's the punishment). I guess the beach will stay rather crowded, for a while at least.
The smart money in dollars is being converted into reals. Brazil never had an integration or immigration problem and addressed their energy needs head on.
We can be like Brazil, energy independent in about a thousand years at out present rate. Actually 220 billion in government sponsored and operated, (like Apollo) research and development, (no private patents on processes etc) is all it takes. And about 7 years. How long can you set in a gas line? The "earth warmers" wonder how long you can tread water.
All our money is going to Allah who operates money heaven. Allah sho is hungry, on a steady diet of dollars. There's a rumor He's switching to some other diet, dollars getting vitamin thin. Allah's Thanksgiving is to the Bush administration.
We still got a lot of nuclear weapons. What would we be without them? "On The Beach" is a really old movie and hardly the place to give thanks.
Posted by: BGone | November 21, 2007 1:22 PM
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.
Oh, well... Happy Thanksgiving Day!
But, even for a few moments, include the "Indians" outside in the cold, in your thoughts and prayers? For a fervent hope that families all over the world have the chance to celebrate a thanksgiving day like yours? Your family will be twice blessed!
Hope Thanksgiving Day's spirit does not go where Christmas Season's spirit has gone!
Salud!
.
Posted by: AJdelosReyes CA-USA | November 21, 2007 1:05 PM
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This essay's "overindulgence" wasn't what struck me, it was that she was together with her family and friends.
In today's world, where family and friends are spread all over the globe, holidays are a sadly unique opportunity for everyone to be together.
Personally, I never cared for turkey and the stuffing made me sick (I'm allergic to wheat) so the food does nothing for me. But, watching my uncle and Dad debate politics, my sister dramatize the latest life-changing event and being with my mom as she spent hours over the meal that made all of us crash out afterwards in the den is what makes the day for me.
As we all get older these constants never change....even if the location does.
Posted by: Seattle | November 21, 2007 1:03 PM
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I have to comment that rich white americans over-indulging themselves IS the traditional Thanksgiving experience.
And this is supposed to enlighten us, how???
Posted by: Anonymous | November 21, 2007 12:26 PM
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You bring a refreshing light to an old tradition! You remind us that it is more about family than food. Thanks for sharing! Keep encouraging us with your writing. Loved your first book and can't wait to read more!