On Thursday, we’ll indulge in the great American celebration of excess that is Thanksgiving. It’s a strange week to be thinking about thrift and frugality.
On the other hand, we’re already well into the annual assault on our senses that is the holiday advertising season, when we learn how desperately we need a lot of shit that we don’t need, not to mention how buying it is the only way to prove to your family and friends that you love them. It’s particularly grating in my family, as my husband is a choral musician, and there’s nothing like a holiday ad for mangling great works of choral literature.
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Although it celebrates consumption and indulgence, a big part of that indulgence is the immersion in family, in thankfulness, in tradition, in things made, and not just things consumed.
So many of the best family memories focus on Thanksgiving. My friend Terry’s amazement that I whipped my potatoes by hand. It never occurred to me to use a beater, and I still don’t like to. I think it makes the potatoes gluey. Watching the kids slowly turn their focus from childish to adult, as one by one, they stopped leaving the adult conversation after the meal. My annual fight with everyone else in the family over canned cranberry sauce which we never ever ever (ever) had until about 4 years ago, and which everyone now insists is a “tradition.” Did I mention that we NEVER had this before? Ever. I must have been having Thanksgiving in some alternate universe, because I’m pretty sure I was making this cranberry sauce every damn year for decades.
World’s Best Cranberry Chutney (From the old Sphere magazine)
1 lb cranberries (these used to come in 16 oz bags, now they’ve reduced bag size to 12 oz, so just deal)
1 cup white sugar*
1/2 c. packed brown sugar*
1/2 c. golden raisins
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground clove
1/4 tsp allspice
1 cup water
1 c. chopped onion
1 c. chopped apple (Granny Smiths)
1/2 c. chopped celery
Simmer cranberries, sugar, raisins and spices in 1 cup water, uncovered, in a saucepan over medium heat, just until the cranberries release their juice (about 15 minutes). Keep heat low, and stir in remaining ingredients. Simmer until it thickens, about 15 minutes. Can be served warm or cold. I think it’s best when made the day before and stored in the fridge, then served at room temperature for the actual meal.
* if you don’t want to use sugar, substitute 1 cup honey and 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda. You’ll need to simmer it a little longer due to the excess liquid.
————————
Indulgence can be a profane act of excess for the sake of excess, or it can be a sacred meal, shared with the ones you love most. You can consume for consumption’s sake, or in celebration of life’s sweetness. Consumption can be extraction, leaving you sick and unhappy, or creation, which transports you.
How will you balance the profane and the holy this week?
Not Dabbling In Normal 
Although we don’t celebrate thanksgiving here (no turkeys…no Indians…no succotash…no idea! 😉 ) I fully understand how these “celebrations” can take over your life and leave you broke and bewildered. This year we are volunteering at a homeless and people alone at Christmas event. We decided to do this and have a simple meal when we get home because Christmas has become a disgusting round of overconsumption and could single handedly be contributing to global warming by the amount of consumables that are boosted into life due to overwhelming demand for everyone wanting to outdo each other in the gift giving stakes. Haven’t we learned from February’s credit card bills that cripple family after family? I guess not :(. Anyway, most of our celebrations these days are simply out to get your hard earned money out of your pocket and into some retailers new mercedes. The more aware we become of advertising ploys and nefarious bank raids on our hard earned funds using clever ads and appealing to our naturally competitive natures the less these ads will work. I am proud of you for mashing your own spuds! That sounds incredibly lame here in Australia where mashing spuds is the norm. I often read about the incredible lengths that American’s go to so that they don’t have to move…precooked bagged rice anyone? Lets all start doing a few things for ourselves and take back our lives, our food prep, our ability to choose and think and “be”. Stop letting advertising executives, retailers and “big brother” do your thinking for you! Sorry about the rant…I am SO over Christmas and its only just November 😉
The thing is, the excess makes sense at Thanksgiving. The cornucopia is the main symbol of the day, not the turkey as many think, especially those off-shore who see only the indulgence. It’s a wonderful holiday. The problem is, we don’t let go of the excess once we get into the Christmas/Hannukah season, two holidays that commemorate peace and sacrifice and the simple miracles of god.
It’s so easy to get caught up in the hype of it all and the competitive need to go one better than anyone else that we know isn’t it? The excess is the problem and if we could all learn to celebrate the holiday for the actual reason of the holiday the world would be a much better place. The simple miracles of God don’t need all of that consumeristic embelishment and Thanksgiving is a reason for giving thanks, not for going nuts and putting yourself into debt and a diabetic coma. We really have allowed ourselves to be overly influenced by advertising and the retail push for indulgence and overspending. It really doesn’t make any celebration better…just more expensive.
Balance. Right! I usually want to the big thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings. Even though it will just be the two of us this year (by choice) I will still do the meal, but on a smaller scale with enough left overs for a few days.
I particularly dislike going to any stores this time of year. The shopping frenzy drives me crazy. The crazy people in parking lots drive me crazy, so my way is avoidance. I have a few things I need to get at the retail stores and I will wait until this shopping week is over and get in and out well before mid-December.