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Enjoy Thanksgiving!

By Merrill Ogden - | Nov 23, 2022

Thanksgiving is a terrific holiday! It’s one of my favs, if not “thee” favorite of them all. Everyone has their own reasons for liking particular holidays.

I know several people who love Halloween. And – no; they’re not witches. (Well, maybe that depends on your definition of witch.) I think Halloween is fun, for sure – but it lacks an important element of a “holiday.” It’s not a day off from work.

If you were to take a survey, Christmas would most likely come up as the winner in holiday popularity, especially among kids. I mean, what other day of the year can someone expect to get a play station video game, a bunch of new clothes, a skateboard, and other surprises? And when you consider the “real meaning” side of the holiday, it’s tough to compete with commemorating the birth of Jesus.

Many people think that Independence Day is the “cat’s meow.” I agree. The 4th of July has some wonderful feelings and traditions attached to it. It’s a summertime day that makes my heart swell as the flag parades by and the crowd salutes and goes silent.

There are things though, about Thanksgiving, that trump the other holidays in my mind. One big plus is that Thanksgiving comes on a Thursday every year. And, it is a legal holiday. The banks, post office and many other offices are officially closed.

Then, because the holiday is on a Thursday, and the day is associated with family travel and gatherings, it’s become natural for the Friday after to become an additional day off for many. I think that this is great.

It’s the closest thing that Americans have for a legitimate two-day holiday. With the weekend, some can get four days in a row to enjoy family and have a vacation without the rest of the world expecting business as usual.

Sanpete County offices will again this year take the two-day Thanksgiving holiday. It makes sense to me.

Being the huge turkey producing county that we are, it just seems right that we make Thanksgiving extra special here. And if there really is something to the L-Tryptophan chemical, sleep-inducing reaction caused by eating turkey, we need an extra day to recover from our big servings of Norbest turkey.

One of the other good things about Thanksgiving to me is that it’s quite a low maintenance holiday. However, I do know that there are big demands on those who prepare the huge dinners and clean up after them.

Jimmy Fallon once said that “a survey found that 80% of men claim they help cook Thanksgiving dinner. Which makes sense, when you hear they consider saying ‘that smells good’ to be helping.”

A great thing about Thanksgiving is that no one has to worry about gift giving, deciding what costume to dress up in, or scheduling volunteer work at a booth in the park.

The way my immediate family has done Thanksgiving the past twenty plus years, there hasn’t often even been the demand of preparing a meal. We’ve found that the holiday is a good one to use as a get-away vacation time. We have no trouble finding restaurants that are serving traditional dinners wherever we find ourselves.

We’ve been quite a few places over the years. We’ve been on Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco at Nick’s Lighthouse for dinner a couple of different years.

We have spent time at the Muir Woods National Monument until closing time at dusk before hitting Nick’s Lighthouse Restaurant for “Turkey Day Dinner.” (I’m told that the first Thanksgiving with the Pilgrims and the Indians was more about fish than it was about fowl. Though, Nick’s did have a turkey option.)

We have feared that our family tradition of being non-traditional for Thanksgiving has been neglectful in a way for our children – especially my youngest son. I don’t think he has many memories of what most would consider a “regular” American Thanksgiving.

We recently had a little talk with him about this concern. He was quick to reassure us that we shouldn’t worry about it – that he was fine and didn’t feel deprived. (Whew! One less thing to feel guilty about.)

Enjoy your Thanksgiving this week in whatever way you choose to celebrate it. And if you can – take Friday off from work. Visit with your family and friends. Go to the movies, or play games, or do something together and “be thankful.” — Merrill

P.S. Here’s a few Thanksgiving smiles:

What did the mother turkey say to her disobedient children? (If your father could see you now, he’d turn over in his gravy.)

What smells the best at a Thanksgiving dinner? (Your nose)

Why do Pilgrims’ pants always fall down? (Because they wear their buckles on their hats!)

What do sweet potatoes wear to bed? (Yammies)

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