Tag: Thanksgiving

Posted on by Fern Brady - No Comments on On Thanksgiving Holidays

On Thanksgiving Holidays

Thanksgiving Day is a uniquely American holiday. It is a celebration of the success of a colony in the new world. The interesting thing about it is that the colony’s survival was due to the relationships they built with the natives of the land they were taking over. The colonists invited the natives to join them in a meal to celebrate that with the joint effort, they had all benefited from working together.

Today, we use this day to gather around a table and eat a ton of delicious food with our family members. In modern times, Friendsgiving has become popular. With so much division in families and the empowerment of people to remove toxic individuals from their lives — whether they are blood related or otherwise — many have come to use Thanksgiving Day as a chance to gather round and eat with friends instead.

However you choose to celebrate it, this time of year, and this holiday in particular, asks us to take a moment and look at our lives with gratitude. It seeks to shift our perspective from what we lack or haven’t yet accomplished, to what we have and what we have already done. It is a wonderful opportunity to take stock in your life and see all the things that are going well, count your blessings, and perhaps bring to the forefront of your mind the things that are good. Putting aside for at least a day all the things that are wrong in the world, your relationships, in your life, this day asks us to search for that which is good, that which is working, and to be grateful for it.

In many ways, Thanksgiving is a moment for us to pause and breath. We gather together with those who are our ‘family’. Some may be blood related, and others maybe the people who have joined us on our life’s trajectory. Whatever the case, we have at least one day to stop and be happy in the midst of the mad rush of go, go, go, our society imposes on us.

As we move past this day and into the hectic time of the winter holiday season, don’t forget to take those things you noted were good about your life with you. Don’t leave the gratitude behind. Let’s keep looking at what is working well, examine and fix what isn’t, but always be mindful of the blessings we have. Oh, and don’t forget to build relationships. Blood or otherwise, we are social animals and now more than ever we must find our tribe and support each other.

Posted on by Ellen Seaton - No Comments on Pandemic Road: Post Halloween Malaise

Pandemic Road: Post Halloween Malaise

Now that Halloween is over (I’m still in recovery from that!) I am on to the next distraction from the ongoing craziness of this pandemic ridden world. I began this morning by attempting to make plans for Thanksgiving which is just two weeks away. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not having to plan what meal I will be cooking. Remember, I don’t do anything as domestic as cook. However, for many years my Beloved and I have gone to a wonderful restaurant that knew how to do a Thanksgiving spread up right. However, this year we wanted a take-out dinner. We are both still big into isolating as Covid numbers are rising again.

When I contacted the restaurant to discuss a menu, things went strange quickly. I could get a turkey for $100+ and a batch of mashed potatoes for $75. I quickly realized that they were selling family style batches of food. Also, being a vegetarian, I did not know what I would do with all that Turkey! What was I to do? Luckily this pandemic, unlike the last, is in the 21st century. Google to the rescue! Now I have a choice between two wonderful local restaurants with lots of options and affordable prices. Don’t worry, I’ll go back to my former favorite Thanksgiving restaurant, hopefully next year. I have a week to decide between the two establishments. Check back to see which one I decide.

By this time, my mind was confused and blurry from trying to figure out a pandemic Thanksgiving. The cure? My beloved and I made our way to the Houston Arboretum. The skies were sunny and the trails inviting. We even found what appeared to be miniature flocked Christmas trees. I don’t know the real name of this plant. If you have any idea, please let me know. Anyway, we walked some of our favorite trails and at one point even we didn’t know which one we were traipsing down. I hugged some trees. Then we made our way to the pond and spoke with the turtles. We would have spoken with the alligator, but apparently he doesn’t live there any more. I was sane and centered once again.

Then for more adventure, we made our way to the grocery store for a few provisions. Of course, there were Christmas decorations everywhere. I gave up that fight at the beginning of November. But some things we did see confused me. For instance, why decorate with snow flakes or snow men in Houston? When was the last time we had snow in this area? As I was gazing at the snowflakes it was 80 degrees outside. I guess the air conditioning deflects the heat from the fluorescent lights and keeps the snow from melting.

Just when we thought it was safe to go home, we found these little gems. This is a bag of candy that is made to look like Legos. Children (and adults) are supposed to eat these sweet morsels and maintain enough sense not to eat the real Legos. Does anyone see a problem here? Notice the packaging states that this is “Candy you can play with” and “Build Holiday fun”. Needless to say, we didn’t purchase any of this candy. Probably because I don’t trust myself not to get confused and eat real Legos. This is clearly a sign of just how stressed I am during this time of year.

I will sign off now to go take a nap. Wish me luck!

Until next week.….

Posted on by Ellen Seaton - No Comments on Off Road With Traditions

Off Road With Traditions

It started Wednesday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. Driving down the freeway, I had just left Starbucks and was heading home. There was a lot of traffic. I debated about running errands. I looked at the traffic again. Heck no. All errands would wait until next week.

It was the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Holiday traffic was growing by leaps and bounds. I don’t do holiday traffic. I went home.

As a RoadBroad, Thanksgiving is the time of year where I go “off road” until the holidays are over. Except for Halloween, I am not a big holiday person. As an adult I converted to Judaism, which means I no longer celebrate Christmas and my other holiday traditions have changed as well.

As you might remember from my blog last week, my Thanksgiving traditions are somewhat off the main road. I am not alone in tweaking the Thanksgiving theme. I took this picture when dear friend (DF) and I were driving to our Thanksgiving dinner at Kiran’s. These folks weren’t at a relatives house. They were standing in a long line waiting to get into Cleburne’s Cafeteria. Thankfully we had reservations where we were going.

We drove to our favorite Indian restaurant that prepared a trans-cultural Thanksgiving dinner.  There were many traditional foods, but prepared in Indian style. There was turkey and dressing for the carnivores. I filled my plate with rice, yams, brussel sprouts, green beans, and carrots and a few things I did not recognize from childhood.

It’s not easy being a vegetarian at Thanksgiving. Once DF and I made a meal completely out of a variety of squashes. It was successful, but I prefer to let someone else do the cooking. Over the years we have managed to find a variety of restaurants that will accomodate vegetarian palates. However, Kiran’s is our favorite.

I also enjoyed a pumpkin martini. Was that traditional or off road? Who cares, it tasted really good.

After we completed our feast it was time to go to the movies. This year’s pick was At Eternity’s Gate. This movie told the story of the last days of Vincent Van Gogh. Not exactly a cheerful movie, but what a fascinating character. As an added bonus there was a cameo appearance by Gauguin. If you are an art lover, then you don’t want to miss this one.

Tomorrow this RoadBroad will not be on the road. Let all of the shoppers enjoy the crowds and traffic. I plan on relaxing and reading a good book.