Everyday Canvas

Around the Thanksgiving Table

Prompt:
"Good mashed potato is one of the great luxuries of life."~ Lindsey Bareham
“Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie.” ~ Jim Davis
“Thanksgiving: Brings out the best in family dysfunction since 1863.”~ Unknown
Have fun with these quotes in your entry today!

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Oh, the joy of food! And on the Thanksgiving table, too. What can be better than that?

Thanksgiving itself is a time for families and people to come together and reflect on the things they are grateful for. It's a time to appreciate the bonds that tie family members and friends, creating a sense of unity and warmth. As to Thanksgiving bringing out the best in family dysfunction, I think, humans are better than that.

With function or dysfunction, families are our backbones. I grew up in a family that, no matter what the dysfunction or the disagreement, it was taboo to discuss it at the dinner table at any time, whether it was Thankgiving on the fourth Thursday of each November or not. In fact, my grandmother considered someone leaving the table in anger as an equal sin to murder or probably worse. Thus, when the conversation took an unfriendly turn, it was everyone else's job to change the subject.

This tradition held true through time when I had my own family and I am very happy to say that neither my sons nor my husband nor anyone else who would be at our table broke it. Food represents gifts from God or from whichever deity a person believes in, be it Nature or Creation. Food at dinner table is sacrosanct.

Also, it is delicious. Just imagine all those food items mentioned in the quotes and tasting them at your Thanksgiving table: Mashed potatoes, vegetables, carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie. And especially that pumpkin pie topped with a dollop of whipped cream, as the perfect ending to a Thanksgiving meal! Yummmm!

Now, whoever can mention dysfunction in this delicious togetherness and inclusivity that we all share, plus the joy of food and our divinely enriched lives?


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