Thanksgiving makes for numerous dilemmas. Do I eat breakfast, or do I starve myself all day until the monumental feast? From some, do we go to my parents’ house, or my in-laws’ house for dinner? Dilemmas.
Truth be told, these dilemmas are not so problematic, as routines, or better yet, traditions are formed over the years. For instance, you learn after years and years to snack lightly for breakfast and lunch, then stuff your face at dinner. Or at least I have. And for deciding which parent’s house to go to, tradition usually decides.
However, even though my immediate family’s (my mom, dad and me) tradition is to go to my mom’s brother’s house for Thanksgiving dinner, there is still a little bit of a dilemma with my dad’s side of the family.
My mom, dad and I are very close with both sides of the family, and that is where the dilemma presents itself. Every year my dad likes to visit his side of the family. Their dinner takes place at my dad’s sister’s house.
He likes to stop by and just say “hi” for a few minutes before heading over to our dinner at my mom’s brother. This sounds innocent enough. Not a big deal.
But it is.
We always seem to get to my aunt’s just as they are sitting down to eat dinner. My dad’s side of the family is like the old retirees in Florida who do the whole “early bird special” thing eating at before 4:30.
What is awkward about this is that we are obviously not eating with them since our dinner is only about an hour or so away. So we sit there watching them eat. They can see us salivating, staring at their delicious spread. They offer to get us a plate knowing we will decline.
We feel like the uninvited house guests who make everyone feel uncomfortable because they feel awkward eating in front of us, and we feel awkward when we see they are not eating and are just looking at us.
The spotlight is all on us. They know we will not be staying long so feel they should engage us s much as they can while they have us. Meanwhile their food is getting cold on their plates.
Just imagine sitting at a table watching people eat. Weird right?
Now imagine sitting at a table with three people watching you eat. Equally weird?
Without fail, every year after we leave we look at each other and say, “Wow, that was awkward, again. Why do we do this every year?”
But, without fail, every year we go back for the torturous awkwardness.
Thanksgiving is, for most, the second biggest holiday of the year after Christmas. So why is this not an issue on Christmas, the biggest holiday of the year?
Simple, Thanksgiving is all about the Thanksgiving dinner. The turkey, the mashed potatoes and gravy, the yams, the cranberries (the only time when the canned version is equally as good as the real deal) and the pumpkin pie...oh, and being thankful of course.
If you lost count, that is one meal. One.
For Christmas, it is not all about the dinner. Quality time with both sides of the family is possible. Brunch with one, and dinner with the other in my case.
This year was no different, we put ourselves through the awkwardness, left saying we will not do it again next year. But next year the dilemma will present itself, and I am sure we will do it all over again. Because we are thankful to have two options for dinner.
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For a minute, I thought the writer was going to say that he ended up eating TWO dinners... (A family tradition for me...)
ReplyDeleteInstead, he did a credible job of explaining the situation, and how it will happen again next year, and next year, and next year.
Bon apetit.