After class Jacob's teacher pulled me aside. She told me she'd asked each of the kids what they were thankful for and that Jacob said, "I'm thankful for Thanksgiving even though we don't do it." I asked Jacob what he meant and he said, "we don't eat turkey."
When we get together with other relatives, there are so many people and we aren't necessarily all around one table, and Jacob probably doesn't notice the whole bird on a platter until it's been cut and he sees slices on a plate being passed around. If I have to cook it myself, I just get a turkey breast instead of the whole huge turkey - or even a few turkey breasts instead of a whole huge turkey. I like to eat turkey but have a VERY hard time with the idea of the whole bird on the table and being cut for everyone to see. It's very barbaric to me and I've had to leave the table to go throw up from the sight of it before. When we're just with my parents, we have salmon or tofurkey.
One year when it was just the kids and I, I told each of the kids to choose 1 or 2 favorite things to eat, even if it was something I never usually let them have (too junky or too expensive) and even if it was something no one else liked. We had blue Cool-Aid (yikes the food coloring!), macaroni and cheese with peas on the side, chow mein, stuffing and mashed potatoes and gravy but no turkey, chicken nuggets with several different types of sauces to dip them in (yikes finding space in the fridge for all those open bottles at the same time!) jello with fruit in it and no whipped cream on top and NO NUTS, and some other stuff, and I think we made chocolate chip cookies for dessert.
Any which way, back to this year - I asked Jacob to tell me about the first Thanksgiving which he knew basically but then he said, "then they all ate turkey together. But we don't." I thought about explaining that they might not have even had turkey at that first Thanksgiving, but since every picture book he'd seen showed a whole turkey on the table, I figured I'd lose that argument. I just told him that the important part was to be together and to remember to thank Heavenly Father for our blessings and that it didn't matter what we ate for the dinner. He nodded like he was thinking about that, said okay, and wanted to go play.
So whatever your family traditions, and whatever your possibly weak-stomached mother prepares, Happy Thanksgiving, and remember to give thanks for all God has blessed you with.
