Tomorrow I will partake in my favorite meal of the year…Thanksgiving Dinner. The menu for me is VERY important. So important that I struggle with going over to other peoples houses for this dinner (partly because of my deep rooted fear of talking to strangers and the strange anxiety that is brought on by the experience…great qualities for a pastor), I struggle the most because, what if they don’t have the proper menu…and by proper I mean, mine…the correct one. In my opinion, it is almost a sin to buy your Thanksgiving meal at Costco…go to a restaurant…not have gravy…and cranberries are disgusting.
The Thanksgiving meal to me has to be centered on Turkey…not ham. There MUST be mashed potatoes…real ones, not fake and boiled first and then put through a hand ricer…don’t know what a hand ricer is, then you don’t properly understand mashed potatoes! Stuffing is crucial, crucial because it is the go-between for the potatoes and the turkey…it just fit’s perfectly. Green Bean casserole is needed because of the fat sweats. You see, this technically is classified as a veggie dish even though it is doused with cream of chicken and mushroom soup and about 9,000 other calories. But, in between mouthfuls of gravy soaked goodness, I alternate spoonfuls with previously said veggies...which in turn slows down the sweats.
Gravy is the piece-de-resistance. It completes everything…pulls it all in together…finishes the plate. Not gravy from a can, but the type of gravy that my mom taught me to make from the turkey drippings. If I could, I would eat my thanksgiving meal in a dog dish. After placing all my food perfectly around the bowl, I would fill it with gravy and make soup!
While the meal is important to me, I have found that over the past couple of years I’ve stopped to think about my friends from around the world who will not be eating such a meal. I think of Chief Malika in Malawi, who will go through this day as she would any other. She will work in her fields, listen to the discussions in her village, visit many of the widows, carry water on her head from the well and fall asleep after she blows out the candle in her hut. I think of Pastor Felix in the mountains of Haiti who will also spend his day in a very similar fashion. I will also think of my Mom and many others like her who are just thankful to be alive and who are fighting to get healthy.
Yes, this year the meal is very important to me, but I hope to stop and reflect on all of the change that is still needed around the world. I don’t believe in new years resolutions, but I do believe in being thankful for every and all situation and experience and will use this Thanksgiving as a time to reflect on all that I still need to do in this world…and maybe eat my first Thanksgiving meal out of a NEW shinny dog bowl filled with gravy.
