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Sunday, November 23, 2008

The War on Thanksgiving: An open thread
Posted by Jill | 6:38 AM
I suppose that as the holiday season gets into full gear on Friday, we'll start hearing the Usual Suspects (*cough* Billo *cough*) ranting about how liberals have declared War on Christmas, and how it's Patriotic and Christian to spend yourself into debt for the next year to celebrate the birth of a Jewish guy to a mother whose husband has to try to believe that she didn't have an affair.

If there is a War on Christmas, I would say it's being waged by the financial community and the automobile industry, with the help of the Bush Administration, but of course that will never fly with the Billos of the world, for whom Being Aggrieved and Oppressed as white Christian males has become a habit like picking at your fingers or checking the burners on the stove before leaving the house.

Of course, you couldn't tell there was a War on Christmas from the crowds at Kohl's in Ramsey, New Jersey yesterday, where people were filling up carts with sweaters, fleece, gloves, and hats. Nor could you tell at Marshall's, where the Gift Ideas!! of bath sets nobody will ever use and food baskets that make you wonder how old they are were piled high at the front of the store. I got out of Marshall's loaded down with a new set of sheets; a quilted throw for Mr. Brilliant to wrap himself in while we're watching TV because he's always cold, even when the thermostat is set to 72; and some kids' books for the company Tree Gifting for needy families. The tag I picked was age-appropriate books for a one-year-old boy, so I got a bunch of cute Boynton books, something with dinosaurs on it, and an adorable picture book of dogs with pull-out tabs that let you make a dog scratch, or shake its head after bathing. Alas, no tab that would make the dog poop, but you can't have everything.

All of this is, of course, leading up to the Big Thursday Turkey Feast. With my family members having headed south, Mr. Brilliant's father having passed to the Great Beyond, and me unwilling to spend perfectly good time off work sitting around airports, the Thanksgiving get-together is no longer an option. For years, Mr. Brilliant and I went out to dinner on Thanksgiving, feeling obligated to put down a Big Turkey Dinner™ long after we decided that to make a BTD for two was a waste of time and resources, especially since Mr. Brilliant does not like cranberries or sweet potatoes, which pretty much leaves you with a rather wan-looking white-and-tan dinner. But as the years have gone by, and turkey is now available at any time during the year, and you can get perfectly nice turkey breast slices at Trader Joe's if the spirit should move you to make a turkey dinner, the idea of the Thanksgiving turkey being a mandatory thing began to seem like something requiring rebellion. And after the last time we went to our local Nice Restaurant on Thanksgiving and the size zero waitress made a sarcastic crack about the two cookies that constituted my dessert: "You sure you have room for that?" I don't have to pay forty bucks so that some twenty-five-year-old who hasn't spent forty-five years fighting a losing battle with weight pick on me because I dare to eat a cookie and offend her delicate sensibilities.

So last year we decided to forgo spending a hundred bucks on a big dinner that left us feeling oogy for the rest of the day and just cook something nice at home. This year I am making Pastitso from a recipe given me years ago by a co-worker from her Greek mother-in-law's kitchen; along with a chopped salad of cucumber, tomato, red onion, bell pepper, olives and feta with a red wine vinaigrette dressing; and baklava from Trader Joe's.

After seven holiday seasons spent at my former job, I had finally succeeded in convincing my co-workers that Thanksgiving For Two wasn't a tragedy, that in face we actually liked it. I found at a recent departmental luncheon for two departing employees that I now have to go through this again -- convincing people that there are other ways to enjoy the holiday besides, as a commenter over at Firedoglake said, "the celebration of the genocide of native americans or the triumph of euro colonialism in the lands where the native indignous (sic) people lived for years."

Now, there's something to be said for debunking the myth about Thanskgiving that we are all taught from the time we traced our handprints in kindergarten and colored them in to look like turkeys. But today this country is in such a shambles that we just don't have the luxury right now of trying to debunk a holiday that represents for many a rare moment of joy and togetherness as dreary November draws to a close, giving way to the Festival o'Shopping to come and then the long, cold winter.

So now you know what we're doing at Casa la Brilliant on Thursday. Got any unusual traditions or dishes of your own that you're cooking this week? Spill 'em in the comments.

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9 Comments:
Blogger Jennifer said...
Your dinner plans sound marvelous - I LOVE pastitsio!
My husband and I do Thanksgiving just the two of us as well and enjoy it immensely.
Have a wonderful day!
11/23/08, 8:33 AM  
Blogger Fran said...
I am loathe to admit to loving Thanksgiving. Don't hate on me forever, okay?

It is not the family part - I am most grateful to not spend time with the extended one. My husband usually works on TG and we eat at 7 after he gets home. Fine by me.

I love to make turkey and have spent years trying different preparations and am fairly settled on what I do. Of course me being me, I must add or change it a bit.

We are not cranberry people, so none of that here. Mashed potatoes, some kind of veggies, a big salad, maybe some squash or pumpkin soup.

It will be me, Mr He Is, Stepdaughter She Is, Sister-in-law She Is (mr's sister) and an 85 year old wonderful woman who has become part of our family.

That's my story.

Pilgrims, shopping, madness - I try to avoid them. I have not been in a store on so-called Black Friday in at least 25 years, except for the two years I worked at Crate&Barrel in White Plains. Then I was only there as an employee.

To bleed into the War on Christmas, I am happy as a Catholic to participate in that war. After all, what the fuck does shopping and empty words have to do with why Christmas exists? I have actually started writing about that on my church blog, leaving out the f-words. Let's see what I get as a response!
11/23/08, 8:33 AM  
Blogger D. said...
I'm actually happy to be spending the day with family (especially after the 2005-06 Thanksgivings, one just after my brother died, the next after my father died). We are getting the main meal from Pathmark (!), and any subsidiary item we can cook up, so I might fix garlic stir-fry or something. Heh. No bacalao this year, though.
11/23/08, 9:30 AM  
Blogger Bob said...
The roasted chicken Thanksgiving: Chicken is better than turkey, period. The veggie Thanksgiving: Not so pleased with the main dish (I was a guest) but the desserts were awesome & the table conversation was about music & art. Living alone, I haven't done Thanksgiving since 2002, when my sister's guest list included three people I didn't know, another guy named Steve I knew & couldn't stand being around. My sister was in a snit because she'd learned she wasn't the maid of honor for a friend's wedding, & I understood why & she didn't, although no way I would tell her. I was an overnight guest & trapped there when my brother-in-law showed The Last of the Mohicans after dinner with the home theater speakers cranked up. I went to the guest room to read & the walls were vibrating.
11/23/08, 4:14 PM  
Blogger Rhode Island Rules said...
Thanksgiving never was my favorite holiday. Of course Catholicism never took with me either so the whole pray and be grateful thing just falls flat for me. I love Halloween the most. I suppose gathering the family around is great if you like them. Otherwise it's just a painful day of small talk.
Now summer cookouts with cocktails, I'll definitely be there.
11/23/08, 7:01 PM  
I wish you and Mr. Brilliant a lovely holiday. I am roasting a turkey tonight because I can. (Thanksgiving for Two might sound sad to your coworkers, but imagine how Thanksgiving for One would sound to them!) I will freeze most of it but it made sense to make it now when it's cheap. I will spend the actual Day of the Dead Turkey with a friend and her husband who recently resigned from the Army (17 years in, not even enough to retire on full) rather than be sent AGAIN to the Middle East. As he has little to be thankful for (other than the Army LET him resign) and I don't enjoy celebrating the subjugation of the Native American population, I think we're going to be eating popcorn and watching movies.

Sometimes I miss New Jersey. Someday I'll go back for a visit and maybe we can finally meet.

And I must share with you a bit of humor based on today's date -- the 44th or 45th anniversary of the first episode ever of "Doctor Who" to air, in the UK of course, but it still counts.
11/23/08, 9:35 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Hell no.

I love how all you spoiled, middle-class fucks like to imagine that you're not spoiled, middle-class fucks because you eat slightly different things.

Our thanksgiving: a joint and a bottle of Jack Daniels.
11/23/08, 9:57 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Thanksgiving in Atlantic City! Third year in a row. I moved to SE PA from Texas at the end of 2005. Like you Jill, I refuse to go near an airport at Thanksgiving, I do enough flying during the rest of year(business). Although I've been here three years, I have garnered no real friends (or least no invites to dinner). I've found people here to be incredibly parochial, closed- and small-minded. I'm an outsider here. As much as I loathe Texas politics and religion, people there are warmer and friendlier than this parrt of PA (west of Philly, north of Baltimore).

So I go to Atlantic City. This year the room is free. I'll play craps, see a standup comedy show Thursday night and have a wonderful dinner at the buffet. No muss, no fuss. No dishes to clean later. (I did buy a turkey breast to cook in my smoker one weekend soon).
11/24/08, 10:42 AM  
Blogger Bitty said...
I think I just might be thankful to be a spoiled, middle-class fuck, considering the alternative.

Anyway, I'm moving T-day to Dec 6 because I'm working against a deadline this week. And I'm having a nice roast chicken dinner on Thursday. Thanks for asking.

You all have a good one, too.
11/24/08, 4:29 PM  
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