Another Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving isn't a traditional festivity I am accustomed to. Growing up in the Philippines, there was no thanksgiving to speak of. The most festive of all occasions, which I would equate to as a Thanksgiving equivalent, is Christmas. It is a time to be with family and friends, to be thankful, and to share. It is probably the longest celebration ever observed. It begins with the start of the "ber" months, which is September, and ends in January. As soon as the clock strikes 12 midnight of September 1st, you'll hear the first Christmas carol being played over the radio. But since the US has become my home for so many years, I have adapted and have partaken in its own rich heritage and tradition.

I am not particularly fond of turkey. I think it's the driest bird ever cooked. It is only during Thanksgiving that I even eat turkey, but I don't think I am missing out on anything. Many moons ago, we hosted a Thanksgiving dinner for some friends. We did away with the usual dishes of a Thanksgiving meal. We didn't have turkey. We had chicken instead (TWO, as a matter of fact), plus some other special treats typical of any Filipino feast.

The days that led up to Thanksgiving was quick and full of activity. The workweek was shorter than normal, and I was able to leave work early on Wednesday since there was hardly anyone in the office. Later that evening, my family and I had dinner at our favorite Szechwan/Hunan restaurant, Jing Jing, in Palo Alto, before we watched the Stanford Women's volleyball team play their last home game of the season (they won against Colorado, 3-1).

I knew it was going to be a long day, and there will be a lot of eating. So it was important to pace ourselves. Our Thanksgiving day started with a mass at. St. Joseph. I was a bit surprised to see that there weren't many parishioners that morning. Quite unusual.

As a family, we started some sort of a tradition for ourselves. For the last 3 or 4 years, we celebrated Thanksgiving lunch at Maggiano's in Santana Row in San Jose. They had a prix fixe family-style menu that included traditional Thanksgiving fare and all the fixings, plus some other Italian favorites. There was just a lot of food. If you have been to Maggiano's, you know what I mean. Obviously, we had tons of leftovers, some of which we barely touched.

We planned on taking a quick nap before we headed off to the evening's activities. On our way home, we stopped by a local Safeway. At the door, a homeless man on a wheelchair was soliciting. My wife (with my son) gave the man some money, then went inside to shop. As we left, the man was still by the door. I looked at him, and felt that he was tired and hungry. When we got back to the car, we sorted out the leftovers we had at lunch, and gave the man something we thought he would enjoy. My wife made sure my son was around to see her hand over the bag of food so he understood what he needed to be thankful for and to share what you have.

For as long as I can remember, we've always been invited to a Thanksgiving dinner. Since we don't have any family close by, we are fortunate to have really good friends who treat us as their own. They are OUR family. This year was no different. We had multiple invitations, but it was just impossible to say yes to all of them. Somehow, we managed to do so for a couple. It was on a first come, first serve basis (or was it more like first invite, first go?). The only thing I didn't like about it was that we had to eat at both places we went to. You certainly didn't want to upset your hosts by not having a bite or two of the food they tirelessly prepared for hours. We barely had digested the HUGE lunch we had, and here we were, having dinner, TWICE !!!

As much as we wanted to stay on, the body had given up. All the eating had taken its toll. It was time to raise the white flag. Another Thanksgiving had ended, as we paused to acknowledge all the graces and to be grateful for all the blessings.