The Pleasures of Thanksgiving

            Cornbread stuffing with savory turkey gravy. Yams and apricots drizzled with buttery cinnamon glaze, topped with raisins and walnuts. The good ‘ol green bean casserole that I would pledge my allegiance to as much as any flag—forget turkey—I love the side dishes of Thanksgiving!

            Thanksgiving is simply my favorite non-church holiday, by far. I get immense joy out of cooking, and it’s as if the entire nation has conspired to say, “Here, take a few days off! Kick back and do your favorite creative endeavor for awhile.” 

            My anticipation of Thanksgiving is even higher this year, because my mom has moved to town. We will spend a couple of days cooking, she and I. This woman who taught me how to cook. Who taught me the art, the craft of cooking. I look forward to time with her in my kitchen, a time-honored, sacred space if there ever was one. 

            When there is good food around, cheerfulness abounds in these silly boys that I have come to love. Because someone has come before them with love to create for them, to nourish them, they will sit around a home-cooked meal talking much longer than a pre-prepared, microwave one. It’s unconscious and intuitive. Home cooking creates cheerfulness; this is another pleasure of Thanksgiving.

            Often after a big event, there is an emotional letdown. The fun is over, the assembled people dispersed. Not so with Thanksgiving! Post-Thanksgiving does not have a letdown after the celebration, because it looks forward to the biggest celebration of the year; one to be had in a month! After the meal is over and the turkey naps are taken, there are sparkly lights to string, shopping to do, concerts to hear, joy to plan, secrets to keep. 

            And of course, the biggest pleasure of Thanksgiving is the corporate moment to stop. We stop and humble ourselves; we take an accounting of the year. Even if it has been a hard one, even if our hearts have been eating gravel, there are still reasons to be thankful. If the year has been easy and bountiful, it’s even more important that our souls pause and return thanks.

            Each year as we name our reasons, my heart grows larger and weeps a little. Life is so short; it’s so hard sometimes. It’s a good and beautiful thing to have a moment to stop, to account. Individually and in families, in neighborhoods and in the nation, we name the blessings that have lightened our load, brought us joy, sustained us. We thank the God who is in all things and before all things; in Him all things hold together. 

            As we look forward to this time, this meal, let us anticipate and savor it. I bless you with the hope and prayer that you may find the pleasures of Thanksgiving.