Big Pants Day Is Almost Here!

In a few days is my favorite holiday of the year, every other holiday (yes, including Christmas) is a distant second to this one. In what has become something done in a most boring fashion, I will at the drop of a hat list the various reasons why I love this holiday above all others.
A list that looks a lot like this:

(In no particular order)
(1.) No religion per say. It’s open to EVERYONE (because everyone, no matter what their religious preferences, eats)!
(2.) No pressure for gifts!
(3.) It is a holiday devoted entirely to FOOD!
(4.) Almost everyone gets Friday off just BECAUSE it is ALWAYS on a Thursday.
(5.) Leftovers, leftovers, leftovers
(6.) Gathering of family and friends for a happy occasion.
(7.) Signals the beginning of Eggnog season. (yeah, yeah, it’s a heart attack in a carton, but just because it’s out doesn’t mean you have to consume it like an idiot).

There are more but they are more peculiar to me personally like I always have it at my house because I want the leftovers, I don’t want to travel, I really selfishly wish to eat, drink and be merry in the comfort of my own home. I have about 18 guests usually and it is a day I revel in because the mood is always good.

I wish the same for all of you, whatever your plans, and with this entry I’m including something that really describes the day for me. I’m not a religious person but the person who wrote the Litany is, so as I am respectful of others beliefs, I will just say here it is.

Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving! (or as I like to call it, “Big Pants Day!”)

Litany for Thanksgiving by The Rev. Max Coots

Let me say that there is as much thanks to be given
for the gift of people as there is for the harvest
of fields. We ought to count friends more gratefully
than the images of gardens, pantries, and cellar
shelves. We ought to savor friendships and loves
as much or more than we do shapes, tastes, and
textures, of all the fruits of the fall...

So instead of the usual, let me say: Let us give
thanks for a bounty of people. For children, who are
our second planting, and though they grow like weeds
and the wind too soon blows them away, may they
forgive us our cultivation and remember fondly where
their roots are.

I just can't help it. When it comes this time of
year, I just can't help it. Maybe it's the harvest
moon.

So let us give thanks:

For generous friends...with hearts as big as hubbards
and smiles as bright as their blossoms;

For fiesty friends as tart as apples;

For continuous friends, who, like scallions and cucumbers,
keep reminding us that we've had them;

For crotchety friends, as sour as rhubarb, and as
indestructible;

For handsome friends who are as gorgeous as eggplants
and as elegant as a row of corn, and the others, as plain
as potatoes, and so good for you;

For funny friends, who are as silly as Brussel Sprouts
and amusing as Jerusalem artichokes, and serious friends,
as complex as cauliflowers and as intricate as onions;

For friends as unpretentious as cabbages, as subtle as
summer squash, as persistent as parsley, as delightful
as dill, as endless as zucchini, and who, like parsnips,
can be counted on to see you through the long winter;

For old friends, nodding like sunflowers in the evening
time, and young friends, coming on as fast as radishes;

For loving friends, who wind around us like tendrils, and
hold us despite our blights, wilts, and witherings;

And, finally, for those friends, now gone, like gardens
past, that have been harvested, but who fed us in their
times that we might have life thereafter;

For all these we give our thanks.

Amen.