Giving Gratitude To?

November Weeds & Wildflowers Writing Prompt

November is the month of gratitude — well, at least in the United States. I think it’s ironic that our month of thanksgiving is followed by our greediest month — December — all in the name of Christ who, I am sure, would not be pleased with the commercialization of his birthday, which really isn’t his birthday at all — oh, heck, it’s complicated and convoluted and so unChristian.

Anyhoo, back to the subject of gratitude.

I never got Thanksgiving, especially as a kid. At home, it was my dad, my sister, and me. He wanted to have Thanksgiving dinner at noon and he wanted the biggest turkey our small-town grocery store had. He always bought one that hovered around 22 lbs.

Three people and a 22-lb turkey.

Dad loved turkey leftovers — turkey sandwiches, turkey soup, turkey tetrazzini, turkey anything. An identical meal was served a month later for Christmas. No wonder I became a vegetarian!

My sister and I hated Thanksgiving. To serve a 22-lb turkey by noon, dad woke us up at 5 am to start preparing dinner. We had to get up even earlier than we did for school, then cook all morning, then clean up all afternoon. And, there weren’t even any gifts! The only point of the day was food — preparing it, eating it, cleaning up after it.

And, since my father was not religious, we didn’t even say grace — not one word of gratitude. And, truthfully, my sister and I weren’t feeling very thankful when we finally sat down to eat.

Ironically, in my previous marriage and for 21 years, I hosted Thanksgiving for my husband’s family and a bevy of friends. Our guests often numbered more than twenty.

I would work all day on Wednesday, then stay up all night, with the exception of cat-naps on the sofa, cleaning house, baking desserts, roasting two turkeys, and preparing side dishes. All while my husband slept.

In an effort not to murder someone or run screaming from my house or fall asleep with my face in a plate of mashed potatoes, I began the tradition of a gratitude circle with a twist. Each person was to give thanks for someone who was not present. It’s easy to get all syrupy about family members and friends gathered around a Thanksgiving table but more difficult to choose someone not there.

In the spirit of my past Thanksgivings, the Weeds & Wildflower’s prompt for November is:

Write a letter of thanks to someone (human or animal) who does not live with you. Your letter can be a traditional letter or a poem. And, please, no letters to the deceased. Yes, we are thankful for our dearly departed mothers, fathers, grandparents, etc., but let’s limit this letter of gratitude to a living, breathing person or animal who does not live in your household.

Please use Writing Prompt Response as one of your tags.

Let’s put a little thanksgiving in our November.

Note: this month’s photo is one of mine. I dilly-dallied and didn’t ask for permission to use someone’s photo until today. No answer in time for this newsletter, so I selected a recent photo I took of a limpkin. I am very grateful to that limpkin for staying in place long enough for me to take several photos!