Archives at Zinester: Starfish: Thanksgiving, Al Batt. Starfish:. Writing

I love Thanksgiving.

It's a particularly good time of the year if you're a guy. For a guy, there is very little shopping required and it involves a lot of eating. This makes Thanksgiving a great holiday.

When Harry met salad.

The silence of the yams.

When the human body changes from being 98 % water to 98 % turkey and stuffing.

A time when the wise person wear sweatpants.

Each year brings an experimental stuffing or salad. Some adventurous cook decides to try a recipe that she had read in the newspaper, heard on the radio or saw on one of those cooking shows where some
chef prepares a dish that no one would ever eat. There is a reason that most Thanksgiving foods are traditional.

The Thanksgiving menu back in 1621 in Plymouth, Massachusetts varied from ours today. Those folks ate fish (cod, bass, herring, shad, bluefish and eel), seafood (clams, oysters, lobsters and mussels),
venison and some birds such as wild turkey, goose, duck, swan, crane, partridge and eagles. One of the Pilgrims said that the eagle tasted like mutton. Fruits like raspberries, strawberries, grapes, plums,
cherries, blueberries and gooseberries. They also chowed down on walnuts, chestnuts, hickory nuts, peas, squash and beans. Other culinary items enjoyed were onions, parsnips, collards, carrots,
parsley, turnips, spinach, cabbage, sage, thyme, marjoram, leeks, honey, cheese and eggs. The pumpkin was likely fried or stewed and neither our regular potatoes nor sweet potatoes had yet been
introduced to New England.

They ate no lutefisk.

Only 55 of the 102 members of the Plymouth colony survived that first winter. The rest starved to death waiting for someone to pass the turkey. Some say they died from lack of lutefisk. The Pilgrims didn't use forks. They ate with spoons, knives and fingers. Salt was on the table while pepper, although used in cooking, was not. As a boy, I liked a certain part of the turkey. I liked the breast. Some years,
we'd have so many people over for Thanksgiving that the turkey would disappear before it got to the kids' table. Kids in my family had their own dining table. It was located about 2 miles from the table
where the grown-ups sat. By the time the mashed potatoes got to us, they were as cold as ice cream.

When the turkey didn't make it to our table, the children would get hot dogs instead.

This happened more than once.

I knew it was a possibility each year.

I hoped for the breast, but was always prepared for the wurst.

We got even. As the older folks sat, groggy from their gluttonous conquest, I would say, "See, Mom, I told you that no one would notice that the turkey had gone rancid a week ago."

Once upon a time during my teen years, I groused that I didn't see much to be thankful for.

My mother told me that I needed to look with better eyes.

She was right.

Each year, my mother was thankful that the next holiday would be
Christmas.

We have so much to be thankful for.

If for nothing else, we should be thankful for the fact that it could be worse.

This is the time of the year when leaves fall, carpeting our days with blessings.

I am so thankful when anything good happens to me. I have had so much help through the years. I am like a turtle on a fencepost. If you see a turtle on a fencepost, you know one thing for sure. He had
help getting there.

I was raised to say "please" and "thank you," and to be thankful that I have so much to be thankful for.

I am thankful for our heating bill. It means we're warm. I am thankful that I can complain about our government. It means that we have freedom of speech. I am thankful for a high telephone bill
because it means that we have so many friends and family to talk to.

I am pleased that I have so much to say "thank you" for.

I am thankful that we eat turkey at Thanksgiving and not buffalo. If it were buffalo, we'd be eating sequels and spin-offs until next Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving leftovers are more than just turkey and dressing. Thanksgiving leftovers include a renewed sense of gratitude for all that we have and a strengthened resolve to be worthy of the blessings we receive.

Think. Thank.

May your leftovers last just as long as you need them.

Thank you for reading this column.

?ŠAl Batt 2004

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