I'm roasting my duck, butter-poaching some garlic and thyme to add to my mashed potatoes, and about to start on the asparagus.
But it is just gonna be me and two of my roommates this year.
Thanksgiving hasn't been the same since my grandmother died, she kind of brought us all together. Ever since she passed, the table has felt empty, like we are all going through the motions without any joy.
She was old, and elegant, and smart as a whip. One of the first women in the country to graduate with a degree in biochemistry. Fearless too, liberal, but more not PC at all. Her liberalism was more of a "white man's burden" sort of liberalism.
She always drank a lot of gin, and smoked a tremendous amount of cigarettes, but she had such a graceful bluntness about her, telling people what she thought, regardless of whether they had asked. I really admired her.
I don't really like my father, or my step-mother, for that matter. He means well, and he is a good man, we just have a very strained history.
I miss the old Thanksgivings of my childhood very much. I need to find a good woman, and start a family, so I can give some children of my own a good thanksgiving at some point.
Happy Thanksgiving Voat.
view the rest of the comments →
[–] 475677 ago
Shit mate at 22 that's a bit rough but try to understand that you likely romanticize the holidays because of the idealized versions you've seen on tv or in movies. Everything in entertainment is seemingly perfect in that respect making us feel like lesser people for failing to live up to the ideals we're shown but the reality is most people don't like the holidays as they're forced to spend time and money on people they avoid the rest of the year. Most only go through the motions for a free meal or presents while loathing the people around them so in reality you're not missing out on too much by not celebrating them as much as you'd like to.
That said you can make your own traditions. Start a family and all it takes is a few years of doing the same things to celebrate and they become tradition so show love, put an effort into the food you prepare, buy thoughtful gifts instead of giftcards, etc. truly make the holidays the way you want and not only will you become the reason why people put up with everyone else but should you fail to deliver the holidays will be ruined which sounds fucked but being desired for delivering the ideal holiday spirit is about as close as you're going to get to receiving your idealized version of the holidays because if you want something done right you've got to do it yourself and the other people's happiness will serve as your motivation and their joy once you've delivered your reward. Become the traditional rock that brings the holidays together and once you die everyone will feel your loss for at least a generation and if you're lucky at least one will try to live up to the image you've passed on which is about as good as any of us could ever hope for.