Topic of the Week: Thanksgiving

[Acacia]

First off, a note. All things for a season. Initially I had a great well of things to talk about. Inevitably, a few weeks helped me calibrate on what worked. Then many months of cherry-picking the best ideas. As I look at my reservoir of unbroached topics, it is frankly looking less and less interesting.

All to say, I will keep dropping these at least until January, but some point after that I may stick a pin in this. That said, it’s been fun!

For this week - last Thursday was Thanksgiving in the States. Canada gives thanks at some point, and I know most cultures have something related to the harvest and pausing to acknowledge what was provided this year.

So for us, what are three (specific number optional) things you are grateful for, right now?

And, also optionally, anything you want to shout out for in this community regarding how individuals or the collective have blessed you this year?

[yashima]

I am still confused by Thanksgiving. It seems a mashup of a variety of holidays I remember from my childhood: St. Martin (Goose Eating Day + children’s lantern processions) and Erntedankfest (Thanks-for-the-Harvest-Feast) which is only celebrated in Kindergartens and by people wanting to decorate their home.

I am continuously and always grateful for my people. This includes my partner, some family, friends close, friends far away, tekeli.li I could write pages on specifics… mostly they are there for me in good times and not so good times to lean on and to celebrate with. And I try to be there for them and I hope I succeed.

I am also grateful that a gut feeling drove me to apply for an employee position because otherwise I’d very likely be out of work now.

Specifically, I am grateful to @RogerBW for introducing me to Advent of Code. You have no idea what starting that in 2022 has done for me

[Marx]

Thanksgiving (which, in Canada, we celebrate in late-October-ish) is basically an excuse for turkey. I love turkey, and I don’t get to cook it very often because it’s a lot of food to make on a whim, and they’re quite expensive (inexpensive per kg, but even a small turkey is a hefty chunk of change).

Recently, the skyrocketing price of beef means that I can afford turkey more often (or, more accurately, I can’t afford beef so I have to get cheaper proteins), so I usually make it 2-3 times a year instead of just once.

My partner doesn’t mind turkey (she really likes turkey tamales), but she’s a much bigger fan of lamb or goose or duck as a celebratory meal. But thanksgiving? Thanksgiving means I get to make a turkey.

I usually use the Alton Brown roast turkey recipe (that involves brining in a plastic bucket with a tight lid in the garage overnight), although one day I dream about deepfrying a whole turkey. Someday. Historically I would roast the turkey, make a leg of lamb pot roast, smashed potatoes, roasted carrots and onions, and brussel sprouts, and let the guests handle the dessert.

Starting in… oh, 2006 or so, shortly before I started dating Andy, I started a tradition called “Friendsgiving” where a few weeks before or after Thanksgiving I would host a big dinner and invite people I like, instead of having to share one of my favourite meals with my family (who I love, but I don’t actually like that much… there is a lot of friction between me and my parents). Usually 7-12 people. I haven’t hosted one since the BeforeTimes… I should get back to it one of these days.

Anyway. Turkey. And gratitude for friends.

Three things I am grateful for: @Boydesian and his unbelievably thoughtful gift of a copy of Forbidden Stars several years back. I’ve managed to get a half-dozen games in the last few months, and every time I pull it out it makes me smile. It’s still one of the most thoughtful, kind gestures I’ve ever received, and during a particularly dark period (in a life that I admit has been full of a lot of dark periods, especially in the last decade).

I’m grateful for these forums, in general. The old SUSD forums are still missed from time to time, but I honestly think this is one of the nicest, kindest, most fun groups of people on the internet. I’m blessed to be a small part of it with my humble contributions (mostly painting models and bad dad jokes… oh, that reminds me, I should post another of those).

And I’m grateful for the patience and love of my friends and partner as I careen around my life like a drunken pinball hitting all the obstacles in my way. One day I will have a writing career and not be constantly at threat of poverty, and I’m going to keep working at it with every moment I can. I’m sorry I don’t bring more positive energy (here, and elsewhere in my life), but I am really thankful for everyone’s support, directly and indirectly.

And turkey.

[Boronian]

We just celebrated Friendsgiving on Saturday and like always it was both a great joy and a huge amount of stress. My wife prepared all the different dishes herself, most of them traditional American ones. But she can’t do that anymore, it is just too much, preparing food and desserts for 12 people while having a full time job with a pretty long commute on top of that (not to forget preparing & cleaning the apartment, some guests stay the whole weekend though a lot of that work is my job). So starting next year, she will “only” prepare the turkey, one American side dish and one pie and the rest will be filled by German dishes brought by our friends. Maybe a fitting change and adaptation to where we live.

The one thing or rather person I am most grateful for is my wife. I have very good and close friends I know for most of my life and I can always rely on but my wife is on a different level as it should be with a partner I guess. She sees and knows me in ways nobody else knows me and despite all that she still loves me and always has my back. I don’t know where I would be without her and I am amazed to be as lucky as I am having her at my side. I feel so unbelievably safe.

I am also very grateful for my baby sister. Having her came as a big surprise to me but seeing her grow up and spending time and playing with her just fills me with pure joy and love.

[pillbox]

First, and foremost, I am thankful for my friends, family and their continued good health.

This year, after being invited for the last few years, we finally attended our neighbor’s friendsgiving the Saturday before the main event – we knew absolutely nobody there outside of said neighbor, but it was a nice way to keep our kids occupied on the day. And, also, said neighbor is also, apparently, a turkey genius and I was blown away by his deep-fried turkey (he actually made two turkeys to accommodate the number of guests). Additionally, he and most of his family is from Vietnam, so we also had a chance to eat some things we wouldn’t normally have access to – the spring rolls were particularly good.

On the actual Thanksgiving Day, I was feeling under the weather, but got up and started cooking potatoes at 8am regardless. We were in charge of both the candied yams (my favorite) and the mashed potatoes (my other favorite). I prepared about 10lbs of each (not enough!)

We then spent the afternoon at my in-laws house; my dad and grandmother were also invited, which was great because I don’t think they had plans elsewhere that day and I don’t get to see them often.

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As a parent of young children who also works from home, I am thankful for this website and its community for providing me an escape from reality. They talk about the need for “3rd places”. I’ll continue to work on that, but at least this is a great substitute while I’m in this particular season of life.

[BertFill]

@Marx

I honestly think this is one of the nicest, kindest, most fun groups of people on the internet.

Given the general state of the internet (and indeed the world) this could easily sound like damning with faint praise!

But I know exactly what you mean. And you’re right. This place reminds me that people can interact on the internet without putting each other down or engaging in endless whataboutery. And it’s lovely.

[lalunaverde]

I want to say “everything”. It took a while until tonight to see all of it.

My parents came from rural families in the Philippines. Neither are city folks until they got married. I remember my paternal family and their rural home where they raise livestock as a living. They didn’t have to rely on those until my father’s siblings migrated to the West and earn money to support everyone. This is during the around the 90s I believe, I can’t really remember.

My parents tried to make it work there but didn’t. I remember being a kid and being at my mum’s clothing store. A business she started that didn’t work. In hindsight, I have lots of respect for my mum for even trying that. They both followed what a lot of Filipinos do and went to the West.

And my life have been mostly lucky. Manage to follow them when I was young. The Piccadilly train from Heathrow was the FIRST ever train I laid my eyes on. (It’s noisy…) That wasn’t what I expected trains would be, but what can you do. The very next day they told me to heat something up and left for work. I didn’t know how microwaves work and put the food with the foil still there, not knowing that was dangerous. Lucky, I figured that was dodgy (it was the sparks that kept going out of the foil that was the subtle clue…) and stopped the thing. That episode was always funny looking back now.

We stayed in Tottenham as our home. I studied here in London, rather than moving out to save money. First it was Computing Forensics. I studied one of the law modules and I hated it. I was lucky when I request to change my course. “Get good grades” they said. Graduated from one of the lowest ranking British unis with an Upper Second. It’s not one of those Russell Group ones. But hey, I got Upper Second. That’s what the employers are looking as the bare minimum, right?

I was lucky trying to get my first job. A series of good fortunes led me to a good outcome over months of anxiety. Not ideal, pay was shit, but at least it’s something to start with.

I was lucky when I stumbled on a board game cafe (honestly I don’t know which one was first: the cafe or Will Wheaton) where I end up creating my circle of friends and a hobby that lasted for years even to this very day.

I was lucky that I got out of Tottenham and moved to leafy West London. (I mean, Tottenham is motivation enough, no? ). I was lucky with promotions and pay rise, so I can afford not having to travel from north London to south west London. Every. Day.

I was lucky giving my whole heart to someone even if it ended tragically.

I was lucky attaining these amazing friends who are good to me and are there for me when Im at my low

I was lucky that I can finance myself when I became redundant in the middle of the pandemic.

I am lucky that my income is above the London median. I am lucky that my life feels relatively stable and boring. Yes. I’m grateful that my life is boring.

I am lucky at how far I trekked from where I come from. I guess the saying that Luck = Opportunity + Effort is true. I wouldn’t have been where I am if I was a lazy fuck. But I can’t help but feel that it was luck, not my bootstraps. And because of that, I always feel thankful for everything.