Turkey Day and the Triumphant Return of the Blog

     So, I feel like I've tried starting blogs before, because I distinctly remember writing a very touching and emotional Thanksgiving entry about how we should appreciate all we have, the good food, the love of our families, the reuniting of long-absent friends, etc. I remain a firm believer in this, more so especially since college and I've been separated from all three. And although absence makes the heart grow fonder, it can also clarify things. As a small aside, I am currently learning to read Tarot cards and should warn you that the past hour spent reading my guidebook is leaving my writing profoundly cryptic and pensive. I apologize for the weirdness. But hey, I'm writing aren't I?

 

     Poor Thanksgiving, the forgotten child of the holidays, wedged in-between the aftermath of Halloween tummy aches and the pre-Christmas shopping frenzy. I mean, one could argue that Turkey Day has been reduced to nothing but the green light for the Christmas season. Every year the day after Thanksgiving marks the acceptable day to wake up at the ass-crack of dawn to shop like a maniac, put up your plastic Santas and obnoxious blow-up lawn decorations, and readjust all the radios in your house to a station that plays Christmas music 24/7 so that when you finally get to Christmas the mere sound of "Jingle Bells" makes you want to punch a baby. And then there's Thanksgiving. The holiday without any songs or intense decorations, whose main point is to hunt down and mercilessly slay a turkey (which, btw: turkeys are so ugly I think of this more as putting them out of their misery) while stuffing our faces full of everything good in the world until we can't move and need to run out on Black Friday just to buy jeans that fit. I mean, in all the madness, who remembers to give thanks? I know I usually don't- well at least, not until the last slice of pumpkin pie has made its way safely into someone’s stomach. But in reality, I have so much to be thankful for, and so much of it goes unacknowledged 364 days of the year, and then Thanksgiving guilt trips me into remembering. Although you may not be reading this on Thanksgiving, take a second, pause, and think of all the stuff you've forgotten to be thankful for. Here are some suggestions that may have slipped your mind:

• Good roommates (or good roommates soon)
• The fact that Taylor Lutner is shirtless for a good portion of "New Moon"
•  Access to a car, Target, family, clean drinking water, and camcorders for Skype
• citationsmachine and Sparknotes
• Cleaning ladies and/or mothers
• Good music and books
• The element of surprise
• Freedom from persecution or discrimination due to age, race, gender, or religion (and eventually sexual orientation, though we're not there yet).
• Sewing machines
• The random kindness of strangers
• Public transportation that runs
• Imagination, which gives us the ability to turn something incredibly shitting into something lovely or hilarious
• Elevators (for those of us who may be in very tall dorm buildings)
• JK Rowling
• Bug spray

     Just a few ideas you may have missed in addition to the obvious (friends, family, good fortune, opportunity for education, shelter, clothing, food, etc.). And with than I close this particular entry, but don't worry, I'll be back, in my hiatus I've found a wealth of pictures, videos, and lessons to share, so sit tight. But for now, hug your parents, send nice texts to your friends, be nice to your siblings, stuff your face with leftovers, and have a wonderful Thanksgiving.