As the calendar ticks down to Thanksgiving we’re all being stuffed with advice, product promos and tips to "master" the feast and host the "ultimate" holiday meal. How will yours compare?
Everyone can up their game. But to me the Thanksgiving table feels like the wrong place to chase perfection.
I think what makes a holiday memorable is what makes it ours. It’s a tapestry of traditions – some beloved, some simply tolerated and some gleefully deconstructed. So here’s some food for thought on your way to seconds.
First, bad dishes aren’t always failed dishes, even the side dish cooked to mush or the packaged staple just plopped down.
It could be a guilty pleasure, or maybe it’s the one thing the person who brought it knows they can control at the holiday. No matter what else is happening in family life, they still always bring the canned green beans with waterlogged almonds. So make some room on the plate and play along.
Next, consider that resistance to tradition is a tradition. Maybe it’s the "healthy dish" someone slips into the Thanksgiving spread. You know the type — the barley pilaf with cashew cheese, the mixed mushroom soy product salad dressed with diet tonic water.
This belongs to its own Thanksgiving tradition, the loyal opposition. It may never be the centerpiece, but it can at least be a conversation piece.
We also need to remember that it takes more than cooks to make Thanksgiving. There's the project manager for groceries, the harbormaster overseeing the ebb and flow of the buffet, the head of sanitation at the sink, the umpire adjudicating family disputes, the therapist who’s just there to listen.
Some people are born into their roles, others were recruited, and they can change over time.
Thanksgiving does not just come from cookbooks and pro tips. It comes from families – the ones we’re born into, brought into or convene ourselves. So whether your holiday turns out like the Norman Rockwell version or something closer to Charlie Brown, what makes it real is sitting right there with you around the table.
