If Benjamin Franklin had his way, our national symbol/emblem would have been the turkey, not the bald eagle. If this were the case, would we still be buying approximately 280 million turkeys for Thanksgiving consumption this year alone? Would we be okay with the mass slaughter of turkeys if they were our national bird(s)? Would we be buying bald eagles to eat instead? ;)
Ben Franklin, in a letter to his daughter, wrote:
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We celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday--all of the usual food and festivities and lounging around afterward doing a whole lot of nothing. We figured Thanksgiving is an arbitrary day anyway, so being one day early wouldn't be a big deal (J will be gone the entire day today, which is the real reason why). And as for me, it's pleasant to not have anything planned for an entire five days (wed until sun)!!! But, there is only so much sitting about one can do before it starts to become worse than too much activity.
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Instead of a prayer before the meal, we just went around and each had a turn to say what we are thankful for. And then J taught them (the kids) this:
Good food, Good meat, Good god, Let's eat!
A holiday of glorified over-indulgence.
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Did you know that during the original Thanksgiving meal, the women were not allowed to sit around the table with all of the pilgrims and indians as they ate? They were in the god damn kitchen cooking where they belong!
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I am so thankful for many, many, things and non-things, too. The tangible and intangible, alike. I'll keep this brief to spare ya'll. (I can go on and on and on and on sometimes.) I am mostly thankful for the beautiful people in my life. I am so thankful for having J in my life, my favorite person in the universe. And my whole entire family, especially my wee little ones. And all of you pervs. Yes, you and you and you and you!! You people have given me endless entertainment for 10+ years.
(turkey hats for the fam; I didn't make one for me.....hee!)
xx