As I'm sitting here, grossly full from a huge Thanksgiving dinner reading all the comments by my Facebook friends talking about how they've over-eaten today as well, I can't help but wonder... what is the purpose of the overly excessive meal that has become a tradition for American families on this one day?
Yes I know the holiday is in remembrance of the first meal by the Pilgrims in their new land shared with the Indians, but what we do on this holiday is nothing like what they did on that day.
They may have sat at a dinner table with their friends and family, but they didn't have turkey, they didn't gorge themselves on sugar-filled and sugar-topped pies and sweets and they surely would not have had so much food that they were able to eat left-overs continually for the next week.
We had so much food tonight at my family's Thanksgiving meal that I could not even fit a spoonful of everything on my plate in one go around.
I always find it funny that after having filled our bellies with so much food that we're almost unable to move, we always instigate some type of entertainment provided by the children. We sit on the soft sofas, barely awake from too much turkey while the girls sing and dance and cheer, hoping that some of their activity might rub off on our depleted metabolisms.
I always regretfully end up sinking into my chair with the regretful thought, "Why did I just do that to myself?"
Why do we do that? If we really want to celebrate the intentions of our fore-fathers it seems it may be more appropriate for us to go plow a field or build a barn.
I'm just so thankful that at least one real tradition has survived from our ancestors. Check any history book and you'll find that after the Pilgrims and Indians shared a meal, the men cleared the table and washed the dishes while the women went to Walmart to go Christmas shopping!
Happy Thanksgiving!
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