Another Dead Turkey

I really have never been a big fan of the Thanksgiving Holiday. No one gets any presents and I really don't like gorging myself on cranberry jelly. Or yams. And certainly not noodles. The football games are a nice touch but I could do without the morning parades. I don't love a parade any more than I love Raymond. My bitterness may come from growing up in the food business. My family was always very busy leading up to Thanksgiving and even busier the day after. I really didn't mind the hard work, but there was never much profit in selling turkeys.

There has been an interesting documentary on the History Channel this week about Thanksgiving and its origins. Obviously most people know that the Pilgrims invited the Wampanoags over for a little feast after they showed them how to survive in the 'new' land. One of the interesting things that I learned from the show was that for many years the Pilgrims, or Puritans, continued to celebrate Thanksgiving in place of Christmas. Although they were obviously very Christian, they felt that, even then, Christmas was too much of a pagan holiday. And they didn't even know about Rudolph yet!

The Pilgrims were an interesting group. An ultra-conservative, super-religious clan that were so unhappy with their living conditions, they hopped on a boat and sailed across an ocean to start a new life. Then, about 150 years later, many of their descendants were still unhappy about a tyrannical monarch and chose to fight for their freedom. It was another 150 years before the Bolsheviks ended the concept of monarchies throughout the world. Of course the largest revolution occurred in 1979 when the people in Iran overthrew another brutal dictator. Looking at those groups of people may shed some light on why there are so many problems in Iraq these days. All of those people in history made a decision to change their lives for the better. The change that they demanded came from within and they took action to make the changes. While I am sure most people in Iraq are happy to be rid of a cruel leader, the change was still forced upon them. They may have wanted it, but they did not earn it themselves. Either way, it does not look as if there will ne any type of Thanksgiving feast anytime soon in Bagdhad.

"I swear, as god as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly."
- Arthur Carlson, WKRP in Cincinnati

This morning I dressed Hank in an outfit. It was a cute little onesie and pants combo with tiny cars and somewhere in the house there is a bib to match. As a matter of fact, it was so cute I am still disgusted. The only reason I put it on him was that it was his only clean outfit. And if all of his outfits are dirty he won't have to wear one in front of everyone over the holiday. Outfits are for old ladies who have given up on trying to be fashionable. This is my son. He's going to have a hard enough time in life overcoming all of his father's shortfalls. He doesn't need to look ridiculous doing it. He'll be just fine in jeans and a t-shirt like his sister.