Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, even though like most home cooks I’ve had my share of kitchen dramas.
One year, I left a fresh turkey outside all night thinking it would be cold enough on the porch and awoke to a salmonella infested carcass. We buried it in the backyard, and with no small amount of shame went back to Parson’s slaughterhouse for a second bird.
I was grateful that they had another turkey.
There have been a few drives to Ohio to see family, but mostly my husband and I are in the habit of staying home with hopes of early snow.
That wish turned to rain, and today there is no white stuff to brighten this darkest time of year. Though I didn’t grow up here, I like driving in the snow with studded snow tires on the backroads.
I look forward to Thanksgiving, and not just because I have a weakness for stuffing, raw cranberry salad and pecan pie. And not just because it’s hunting season. (I enjoy seeing my daughter sauntering around in a Carhartt jumpsuit with a rifle on her shoulder around dawn.)
I see it as a rare opportunity to step away from my 24/7 work life, and perhaps even set aside my existential anxieties about climate change and the political train wreck in Washington, to exercise gratefulness for a whole day.
Exercising gratefulness means avoiding conflict at the dinner table at all cost. (For outside counsel on how to negotiate political arguments at close range, I recommend this short guide on how to fact check your family from our friends at Politifact.)
It also entails practicing the magic words please and thank you all day with extra emphasis.
And thinking hard about what makes life worth living: Service to others and the understanding that happiness is about purpose, not personal fulfillment.
I am grateful to live in Vermont where citizens volunteer and give back to their communities. Where we can disagree and still come together for the common good.
Thank you for being a part of the VTDigger community and making our work possible every day.
We all wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving.
With gratitude,
Anne Galloway
Executive Director and Editor of VTDigger
