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The holidays are supposed to be a joyous occasion where you get together with your loved ones, eat some great food and relax, but often the holidays are not so happy. Families go to great lengths preparing the best Thanksgiving meal ever, as if they are competing on "Top Chef," but the day ends up turning into an episode of "Hell's Kitchen" when there are too many cooks in the kitchen. More competitions spring up over who makes the best dressing or sweet potato pie, when that is far from the thankful attitude the holiday calls for.
'Tis the season to reunite with family near and far, but typically after the first day most are glad their relatives live thousands of miles away. The first night at Grandma's is cool when everybody is in "greeting mode" and getting along well, watching old movies and looking through photo albums. Then comes the big meal, where, right after a member of the family says the grace and people start digging in, the food critics of the family begin with, "Who made this maccaroni and cheese?" and "Why is the turkey so dry?" Ironically, those tend to be the same people who leave taking a big to-go plate.
The table discussion starts to move to the heated topics of money, politics and relationships, and before you know it, Thanksgiving dinner begins to resemble the fight scene from the movie "Soul Food," where everyone is at each other's throat, minus the knives.
So this holiday season, I urge you and yours to try to rise above the meaningless family bickering that tends to spoil the entire meal. Put aside the back-biting, exude forgiveness and do not gossip about the family feud of last Thanksgiving just because it sounds juicy. Be that member of the family who offers to help clean up, look after the little kids and gives compliments rather than bad comments.
You might not have the perfect "cookie-cutter" family who is going to make it on the Home and Garden television special for having the best-looking home. But you do have something and someone to be thankful for, so just decide what that is, and realize you only see all your relatives a couple times a year. Make the most of the moments you spend together now, and know that you have a solid month until you see them again for the next holiday.
Heather Hope can be reached at hope.27@osu.edu.
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