Thursday, November 26, 2015

Thanksgiving traditions/memories/things

Here it is Thanksgiving Day 2015. I'm not necessarily "un" thankful, but I've probably been more thankful in previous years. I kinda just feel "un" in general nowadays. Not mad, not upset, not happy, not unhappy... Just kind of 'here.' So I thought I would share some things that I can recall Thanksgiving meaning to me.

 Aside from the usual turkey dinner and all the fixin's that go along with it and spending time with family, Thanksgiving has always meant watching the Dallas Cowboys play on TV. I've been a Cowboys fan since 2nd grade - after watching them lose to the Baltimore Colts. So I didn't really jump on the bandwagon of their winning years. At any rate, my interest has gone up and down over the years, but they're my team and I'm thankful they're on TV on Thanksgiving day.

Another Thanksgiving "tradition" has been the listening to Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant Massacre." A hilariously funny, and long (18-minute) song about the stupidity of too much of life. It's a classic song, but I've been a fan of Arlo since probably... high school. He was one of them there hippies, and even though I never really lived the hippy life, I've always associated with them mentally. I suppose you could say I've always been a hippy at heart. Perhaps it just came from the times I lived in, or the neighbors I had at the time, I don't know. Sometimes I worry that I'm more of a "peace & love" hippy than I am a Christian. I hope not; I hope one can be both. I think you can.

Another favorite on this holiday is recollecting the episode from the TV show 'WKRP in Cincinnati' where the station manager had the brilliant idea to drop live turkeys from a helicopter. "I swear, as God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." Hahahahaha... That was a funny show, and one of the funniest episodes ever on the airwaves in my opinion.

So, those are some of my Thanksgiving "things": family, football, fine music, and funny flightless bird incidents. As I write this, maybe the thing that's lacking this year is more faith-related thankfulness. Not sure how to fill that void, but I guess noticing it is a good place to start.

Thanksgiving Day 2015 will include sleeping in, having the Feipel's over for a big lunch, watching football, and maybe going to see the new James Bond movie tonight. A nice low-key relaxing day.