Sandy Supposes....

Grateful

Blogging Circle of Friends
DAY 3924 November 17, 2023
November 23rd is Thanksgiving Day here in the states, Thanksgiving in Canada I believe was October 9th.
Write a story, poem, or memory that includes gratitude for something.

         

         

         

         

         

         

         I am grateful that I've always enjoyed a choice. There has never been any emotional blackmail associated with a holiday. If myself, or another family member does not or cannot celebrate together as a noisy mob that's okay. We respect and accept each other and a designated day is not necessary. We can jibber jabber and scarf food anytime, anywhere.

         I am grateful that I enjoy an abundance of choice food-wise. Never have I ever been forced or hungry enough to eat a cucumber. Uh-uh, isn't gonna happen. My family however will munch on cucumbers in my vicinity. Meh, if they must, so be it. I in turn love raw peppers, so, it's tit-for-tat.

         I realize people have the right to smother their turkey with cranberry sauce. I have the right to choose to conveniently forget to purchase this family abomination favourite. Oops.

         My Mom would insist upon baking the traditional British Christmas cake for every Christmas season. Bleck!! ( Or is it blech?) I do not like the fruit peel in it. I will pick it out and attempt to pass it off on someone else's plate. I do like the raisins, the cherries and the nuts, but that yucky fruit peel contaminates whatever it touches.

         Bless Mom for providing an alternative for me. She discovered she could bake a loaf with ju-jube candy substituted for that waxy, obnoxious fruit crap. Not only did it taste better it had a cheerier appearance with its bright reds, greens, oranges and yellows. I love her for that choice.

          Christmas pudding is another family food/tradition. That stuff rated its own ceremony. The lights would be dimmed or shut off entirely. The poor, unsuspecting pudding would be set ablaze. The darkness served as both a dramatic backdrop for the flames and a method to hide/disguise that atrocious excuse for a dessert. Who decided it should contain fruit peel? I maintain it was a smoking charred offering to the Christmas gods and it deserved to be incinerated. I had the choice to not taste it ever again.

         Oh, and yes for the record Canadian Thanksgiving occurred October 9th. I am grateful we do not choose to follow the American custom of a November Thanksgiving. I like the buffer that November provides between two big family holidays.