Millions of Americans eat turkey at Thanksgiving. Stuffing, mashed potatoes, yams, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie as well. But I haven't, at least not in a very long time.
Don't know if it was because of the obvious stereotypes or eating with others who didn't care about being traditional.
But this year was different. I had a plate of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, yams, broccoli, cranberry sauce, rolls, and pumpkin pie. And it was fun.
First, the story. I flew into San Francisco Thanksgiving night. I had done Thanksgiving the previous weekend (no turkey in sight) and was just out to have some fun. I had lunch on the plane, but wasn't sure what I was going to do for dinner.
As I toted my suitcase up Kearney from Market Street, I noticed there weren't a lot of places open for dinner. I did see one Chinese place, be so near Chinatown, but it was packed.
I was staying at a hostel, and as I checked in, they asked me if I was staying for dinner. I thought, "well, yeah." I forgot the hostel was having a Thanksgiving dinner. At that point, I would have had just about anything for dinner.
Now in a hostel, you have a lot of people that fall into two categories: 1) they aren't from the United States, and 2) they like things American. There was this excitement over having an authentic American meal.
I grew up on the traditional Thanksgiving meal. A turkey was carved, but there was more people back then. We would have rice instead of mashed potatoes. We ate a lot more carbohydrates back then. But I've fallen out of the tradition.
But it was nice to have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for once. It was completely unexpected. The portions were just right with no pressure to consume great amounts of food. I liked that. I easily saved room for a very good slice of pumpkin pie.
In the holiday season, we easily get caught up in the spectacle of food pressure, some of which is brought on by traditions. I usually have chocolate chip cookies at Christmas time, a long-time tradition. And I adjust my eating to reflect this holiday treat.
So there are some traditions I observe, and some I haven't. But the point is to not be hostage to traditions that would hurt your efforts long-term. A little splurging is part of what the holidays are all about.
This is one of the most difficult times of year to "be good." Tweaks in traditions can help, perhaps giving a few traditions up for awhile might help. After all, when you go back to those traditions, you'll have a refreshed appreciation of those times.
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