Pre Thanksgiving Notes.

The other day at work my coworkers and I had a discussion about Thanksgiving plans and menus. One of our guys is going to cook a turkey with his roommates, friends and assorted family members. We were talking about his menu. Someone asked the boss what he was going to do. My boss went vegetarian about a year ago. No particular reason except to lose weight. He has been doing great. I think he occasionally has a small steak or burger but for the most part he is sticking to a healthy, low fat diet. We all wanted to know whether he was going to do a turkey or not. (He brought in tofu for a recent pot luck – it was real good.)

My boss has limited his meat intake but he still eats fish and seafood. He said he and his wife were going to do lobsters for Thanksgiving dinner. Other people in our group were surprised and said so. "Lobsters ?? for Thanksgiving?"

I quickly rose to his defense (being the brown noser that I am). "Lobsters are the turkey of the sea", I said. That got a little laugh from the group.

I came home tonight and did a little research. Turkey was not on the menu of the first Thanksgiving. But Lobster and fish were. I feel quite good about my comment.

But I started thinking about how many families duplicate the actual first Thanksgiving menu as the Pilgrims and their neighbors did it? I know my family’s menu comes from many years of testing the likes and dislikes, the tastes and not so good tastes of my brothers and sisters. I think a lot of families are like that. Everyone has foods that they don’t like.

I remember one Thanksgiving we had three different types of potatoes on the table. Packaged mashed potatoes, fresh mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes. Thanks Mom. These were all done to accommodate different family member’s personal tastes. I know this sounds silly but there are many reasons to celebrate Thanksgiving. One reason is to be thankful to the Creator for the bountiful country that we live in. One is to celebrate our lives and good fortune. And this is how we show it. By having a feast.

Happy Thanksgiving! Celebrate your good fortune. Be happy and surround yourself in the company of friends and loved ones.