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"It Is, Isn't It?"

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There's a lot of stupid things we do on Thanksgiving don't make a lot of sense and we know it and amazingly do it anyway. We spend hours make food that takes a half hour to eat, we watch bad football, we eat at 3:30!!!, We talk about how great of a deal  that $7 toaster is the next day. We get too into the holidays and put up the Christmas tree that night. We pretend cranberry sauce is actually good etc. When asked "why" no one really can explain other than "because it's Thanksgiving." 

There's a scene in the Wonder Years where Jack Arnold (the father) takes a new job that requires him to be out of town. Realizing how much he misses his family, he calls which leads to this exchange : 

 KEVIN (son): He's coming home? (Smiles.)

NORMA (wife):  No, he's flying in, just for an hour.

KEVIN: But I though he said it was too expensive.

NORMA: Yeah. It is…(smiles)…isn't it.

So while there are a lot of stupid things we do on this holiday that don't make any sense. There's a lot of good things we do that don't make a lot of sense either . We travel to eat two different dinners just to see as many people as we can, we fly across the country, we call friends and spend an hour on the phone when we have a million other things to do, we do gymnastics with our little cousins, we go out all night the night before with old friends, we cram in on a couch just to talk, we laugh too hard, and in the perfect example of Jack Arnold's case, we do everything we can no matter what the obstacle to be with our family. It's for that last reason…that Thanksgiving will forever be one of my favorite holidays. 

 Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends and family, as well as yours.