Tears for Turkey

I have a little bone to pick with this media-crazed society. The other night I was driving, and it was dark, and it just wasn't the time for my regular 101.9 The End radio station. I felt I needed something more mellow, more...soft rock of the 70s. I have a soft spot for Bread, Airsupply, Journey (sometimes the only thing for a late-night drive is to belt out at the top of your lungs "And so I co-o-ome to you with o-ohoh-pen arms!"), REO Speedwagon, and possibly my favorite soft 70s rock song, "I'd Really Love to See You Tonight" by Dan England and John Ford Coley. I don't know why. Dark drives make me feel that way. Maybe it's because I feel the night brings a different kind of mood, a somber one, maybe because that's when we go home and cozy up with a Pendleton blanket (Pendleton's are the best when you are cold) with the heating dish on (because I don't have a fireplace) and a great big heaping mug of hot chocolate (Stephen's is the best) with enough marshmallows on the top to keep you tide over until you can reach the actual liquid underneath and the bottom mallows are all melty and wonderful. Well, when you can't have that, and you're driving by yourself, you want to recreate that cozy feeling and the only thing that could create that fireplace experience is listening to a really cheesy song with a guy singing that never fully made it out of puberty. And I was really looking forward to this on my lone night drive to Target.

So I did anything every sensible light rock listener would do--I turned it to 100.3 for my favorite segment, "Love Songs After Dark." But instead of finding my favorite tune, "There's a warm wind blowing/the stars are out/and I'd really love to see you tonight," instead I heard, "Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens..." AUUUGH! This isn't my cheesy 70s rock! This is really BAD Christmas music (which, for the life of me, I can't figure out why this whiskers on kittens song is a Christmas song. It came from a movie about a nun and Nazis! Where's the Christmas in that?).

This is where my bone-picking begins. As of today, it is 8 days away from THANKSGIVING! The day where you give thanks! And eat turkey! And lots and lots of pie and yams! This is NOT the time for yultiede gaity, damnit! Then, I got to Target, without my fill of Chicago's Love Anthems, and I walked to the back, and guess what, IT'S ALL CHRISTMAS!

I want to know this: where is the love? When did it become okay to skip over the whole Indians-helping-the-Pilgrims-survive-Holiday (although I am sure most Native Americans today are not so hot on the idea of celebrating the beginning of their downfall. I bet there are more curses on Squanto than we white-eyes really know about. Ten bucks says they think "Shoulda let them starve," every time they leave the Res.). I want to know why Thanksgiving is always so overlooked. Granted, it's not glamorous with all the sparkle and tinsel and elves of Christmas. It's not fun with all the costumes and blood of Halloween. But it is probably the most important holiday that we have, even its placement, squashed between candy-grubbing Halloween and present-grubbing Christmas, has important value. Thanksgiving to me is like a comma--just a breath, a short break in a very long-winded sentence--where you can sit down from your few days of baking, eat some really delicious food for about 20 minutes before you have to be up an running again to do the dishes.

Thanksgiving dinner is that break for all of us to stop and rest, and BREATHE after the craziness of Halloween ends and the craziness of Christmas begins. And we all talk about how we need a break, yet here we are, a break actually BUILT IN for us, even if it is only 20 minutes, and what do we do? We skip right over it, and only look forward to the day for the great shopping that takes place the Friday after. Breathe people! Breathe! And then think about all of the blessing we have--we're warm, most of us have cars, we have a lot of clothes, some of us some really cute ones, and we all complain about how fat we are (myself included) when some people don't have any food at all. Just...I don't know. Breathe. Notice Thanksgiving, and actually give thanks that Squanto didn't scalp those pilgrims so that we could be here in America today.
Anyway, this is my little Thanksgiving rant. It was long too. Sorry. But take a moment in the next 8 days or so, to breathe a little and slow down before jumping into the fray of Christmas.