Thanksgiving
Pecan pie, pumpkin pie, turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, dinner rolls, and cranberries. Hot kitchens with windows open wide to catch the chill in the air. Boiling pots, roasting ovens, every kitchen busy with huffing and puffing. Gleaming silverware, polished wine glasses, sparkling china, paper plates, plastic forks, solo cups, and tv trays. Folded napkins, kid’s tables, roomy pants, and comfy sweaters. Family and friends loudly laughing, talking, and tucking in around the table. Women are up early and still up late as desserts, meats, sweets, treats, and drinks are lovingly prepared for a magnificent feast.
Feasting!
I see comments now and then about how wasteful feasting is, how just so bougie it is, and it makes me sad. Someone, several someones need to read A Christmas Carol a little more often!
Feasting would be wasteful and indulgent if we did it daily or even weekly. But feasting a handful of times a year isn’t a waste, it’s an act of humble gratitude, and an act of magnificent rejoicing for all that has been provided through the year. A feast is a hallmark, an Ebenezer, laid out as a visible representation of God’s goodness to us this year. His bounty, provision, and love are all showcased in a beautiful meal. This is a visible representation of what is spiritually happening during the Lord’s Supper.
And let me tell you, socialists and communists, at their core, hate bounty unless it’s just for them. The woke environmentalists hate rejoicing, feasting, and thankfulness. Some people also need to read How the Grinch Stole Christmas a little more, but they’d probably just ban it. Feminists hate feasting because that’s women’s work and how dare you. They all want the world to be empty and cold. They don’t want families gathered together, united, loving, building each other up.
But ladies!!! This is our work!
And it’s wonderful!
Side Note: I’m not excluding men who love to cook or families that farm out the labor-intensive work. This isn’t an expression of hard and fast rules, but a focus on the feminine aspects of the work.
Feasts at any time of the year are a huge amount of work and it’s all consumed in ten minutes, or maybe twenty if we all eat really really slowly. The cost is high for what seems to be of little import other than to add a few extra pounds to our waistlines. Step back and look at the bigger picture. Look at changing all our routines for this event, look at loving people by cooking for them, look at our family nestled in the kitchen always in our way, look at laughter and love. This is so much bigger than the meal itself.
If we want to keep our attitudes in the right place and not lose the spirit of the season, we need to keep our eyes on the big picture, not on all the tasks. We need to focus on the delight and joy and purpose of the feast. Yes, it’s a ton of work, but work is rewarding.
We need to make sure, homemakers, that we get help. There is nothing wrong with not making everything from scratch, or roping our children in, or leaving the meat to our husbands, or giving lists to the guests of things for them to bring. This isn’t a time to powerhouse through the work alone in our kitchens. This is a time to get our families involved. Put on some music, pour a glass of wine, and embrace the hustle and bustle. This is a perfect time to encourage our daughters in the delights of the domestic arts, to do a whole project as a family, to take the education of our children beyond books and classrooms and into life.
Some of my favorite moments are when several siblings are all in the kitchen laughing, teasing, asking where something is, asking where something is again, mixing up drinks, mock-wrestling, chasing children, sharing stories, arguing about movies, singing old songs, and telling worn-out jokes. It’s overwhelming and chaotic in the best way. This is worth the work.
We don’t allow ourselves to complain. We embrace the delight of the whole day and even all the work.
And remember, most of all, the goal: Thanksgiving!
Don’t be Martha. Don’t make everyone miserable or indulge a martyr complex of “poor me, look at all the work I’m doing and no one is helping”. Be thankful! We as believers have every reason to be the most thankful souls in the world. We have Christ! And this time of the year, thankfulness is everywhere! Embrace the spirit of the season with a heart that notices all that we’ve been blessed with. Banish the idea that we deserve anything and embrace the truth that we have been gifted everything. Look at our husbands, children, extended families, friends, church members and be thankful. Look at clothing in our closets, warm homes, food in our fridge and be thankful. We should see everything from the trees and grass and changing seasons to the pies, sides, and beverages as gifts.
Practicing thanksgiving is the single best thing we can do to help our attitudes. Not only when the day of the feast is staring us all down the barrel, but every day. Every day take a deep breath and be thankful. We encourage ourselves and our children. We’re thankful for our husbands. And, like magic, we find our hearths, be they big or small, well-tended. Thanksgiving, not the day but the attitude, is a great gift. It warms our souls, our homes, our churches. It defends us from bitterness. It is a light that gleams out into the world.
Be thankful and feast with delight!
And for goodness sake, everyone needs to go read some good books so they remember what is true, right, and important.
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Just for fun, an easy drink recipe for everyone guaranteed to make your house smell amazing! This is a Trim Healthy Mama Recipe that I modified.
Ingredients:
12 oz. bag of Cranberries
6 Cinnamon Sticks
1 tsp Whole Cloves
3 quarts of Water
Instructions:
Put all the ingredients in the pot and bring to a boil. Simmer for an hour. Strain and divide into 2 cup servings. This is your concentrate.
When you’re ready to drink, add 2 cups of water to 2 cups of concentrate, a few drops of orange essential oil, and a few drops of liquid stevia.
Modifications:
Add hot water to make a hot drink. Add oranges to the original recipe. Add Gin or Vodka for a cocktail. I haven’t tested the cocktail version yet. My gut would be two shots of the concentrate and one shot of clear alcohol. I would also love to try this with a sugar free ginger beer…may have to do that soon.
Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving!
