If you know my oldest-by-five-minutes daughter at all, you will eventually have the ex-Thanksgiving Conversation (XTC for short). Carrie’s growing frustration is that in the rush to jump from Halloween to Christmas, the world has turned on Thanksgiving
If you decide to hang your holly before you’ve baked your turkey, it may be a good idea to keep it to yourself. Otherwise, if “Baby A” finds out about it, you may get The Look. Or worse, execution-by-XTC.
So when we caravanned from Texas to Alabama this weekend for Thanksgiving, to Carrie, it was all about giving thanks. And when we attended the Baptist church in Millry Sunday morning, Carrie became a shouting Baptist when Brother Billy talked about Thanksgiving being the Forgotten Holiday.
“Amen! It’s about time!” she shouted.
Yes, I mean shouted (though she may take issue with my choice of terms).
Still a bit edgy and armed for early-Christmas bear, this led to more conversation. How can we teach people to value Thanksgiving? How can we turn the tide of obscene Christmas shopping, at least until the cranberry sauce is back in the fridge? What can we do to capture the true meaning of what may be America’s most important holiday?
Deep stuff, friends. Insight needed beyond my little pea brain. This calls for the wisdom of Solomon, the intelligence of Einstein, and the people skills of Bill Clinton.
“You’re in luck,” I proclaimed to the fam. “It’s time to go over the river and through the woods!”
“But we’re already at Grandmother’s house,” said Cassie.
“Different river, different woods!” I exclaimed triumphantly. “It’s time you met Bobo Brown.” [click to continue…]
