No Thanks

I actually had a lovely Thanksgiving with some friends this year. Prov and I fixed a really lovely meal while our kids played relatively quietly with one another. This became suspect after dinner when the quiet in the back bedroom resulted in an incident involving a bottle of sunblock being smeared all over the bedroom while they screamed "Bird Poop! Bird Poop!" with intoxicating delight. They weren't laughing so hard when the old folks made them clean it up, though! The four adults in the house did their best to not find this incident amusing and we took turns chuckling in the corner while another parent took over the discussion of respect for another person's property. All in all, it was a good tag team effort and I enjoyed my day.

The one thing I was really thankful for is that I was with a group of adults who did not insist on going around the table and formally giving thanks. I find these little displays to be too competitive for my taste. It's kind of like that unwritten Oscar speech in which you forget to thank your spouse. (Oh fuck, I'm never going to get laid again!) Then you have to go through that whole rigamarole where you feel you need to thank everyone for being there, so and so for inviting you, such and such for the tasty bird, whosywhatsits for just being alive, and then the next fucker down the line proves themselves to be far more gracious than you are by admitting that he/she is "...thankful for sadness because it reminds me that I have, at one time, experienced joy..." or is thankful for "...the sound of squeaky swing set chains and the laughter of little children...". Then you are forced to spend the rest of the night downing glasses of some half assed pinot that was brought by your cheap ass cousin Karl and praying for the turkey coma to take you quickly so you don't have to be conscious for the bitter silence from your mate on the car ride home. Why do you have to chew with your mouth open? Why do YOU insist on discussing politics with Aunt Helga?!

Nope. None of that at my Thanksgiving this year. Just a lot of really good food and some quiet company with good friends with no real agenda. I'd say I was thankful for it, but I don't really want to rub it in.