Thanks be given

Whilst Thanksgiving is still not considered a tradition for The Kiwi I have come to accept it as a special day for all you Americans and turkeys alike. If you get past Thanksgiving intact then you get to live another day and surely that is something to be grateful for. We didn't do the whole kit and caboodle this year. Tracy had to work and a pot luck dinner was shared by all the unfortunates who drew the short straw. We had our fill in an unceremonious fashion and I've been going from pen to paper to website surfing waiting for the hours to pass before we head home. The wine has taken effect and so has the turkey drug, its near on ten o'clock and I can almost feel myself snoring. To me Thanksgiving means being with the ones you love and if my love has to work than I am going to be there, its a long way back to Riverside from LA with a stickshift alone. So what really is Thanksgiving all about nowadays anyway. Seems to me to be a one day event doing your best to play nicely with others topped off with a huge shopping spree after midnight. Shop until you drop or get shot. Tomorrow is Black Friday...arguably the biggest shopping day of the year. But it is a different year...will people really be out there in their droves or will they have let their bodies succumb to the turkey drug and stay home belly up? I personally could think of nowhere I would rather NOT be than in the midst of a midnight sale...even if I was under the influence of turkey, its just not my cup of tea. So I am grateful to be with the one I love. It doesn't really matter where we are or the quality of the mashed potatos, the fact that we are together is what I cherish and hold high above all else. 10.06 pm and the newsroom is like a morgue. The workstation pods that house the unfortunates are backlit with computor glow, paper plates with chewed on turkey bones sit on any clear surface waiting for deadline to pass before they clear them away and head on home. The air is thick with pumpkin pie spice and I may need to go investigate. What's Thanksgiving without the trimmings eh? We are nothing without our traditions, our yearly rituals, our desire to eat some dry old bird once a year and believe it tastes nice. I still refuse to go shopping though. A gal has got to draw the line somewhere.