In my attempt to maintain some authenticity in my daily
life, I have been searching to find new ways to celebrate special
occasions. Although I often question the
origins of the Thanksgiving holiday, I have always enjoyed the traditional
meal, especially as a child as it was prepared each year by my mother. As an adult it has been a source of pride
that I can take all that my mother taught me about being in the kitchen, and
make a meal that friends and family will enjoy.
I have loved taking her recipes, and tweaking them slightly, given that
many of them included red meat, which is not a part of my daily diet.
Throughout the years I have also included various religions into my winter
holidays, knowing that various friends and chosen family members come from
different traditions. For my children
that meant celebrating both Christmas and Hanukah. This year the winter holidays will begin in
my home on December 8th as I honor the Buddha’s enlightenment,
decorating an indoor Ficus tree to represent the Bodhi tree under which the
Buddha sat.
During the past couple of weeks my mail box, and email box,
have been flooded with advertisements for the big sales retailers were
preparing for Black Friday. Never having been one to take my kids shopping on
this mad sprint of a shopping day, my two teenage sons were questioning what
exactly this holiday was. I found it
kind of amusing that the day after Thanksgiving had become it own special
event, almost taking on holiday status.
My younger son kept telling me that the local Game Stop was offering a
new game he was wanting for half price.
Having just taken him to this, his favorite “gamer store” a couple of
days prior, it wasn’t on my radar to find myself back there on such an all
consuming and hectic day. Yet as Friday
morning came upon us, the pleading began.
“Dad, it’s only twenty five dollars.
I’ll never be able to buy it at that price again. Think of how much money I will be
saving…” Okay, enough. Let’s get in the car and get this over
with. Little did he know that I had
other plans that included Black Friday consumption, but I would give him more
details later in the day.
This year Thanksgiving included three all inclusive turkey
meals, all made with love and care. The
first was a meal in my father’s home last Sunday, where each of my brothers’
families and I arrived with various parts of the traditional meal. I loved that each brought something prepared
in their own home, and with pride, shared it at the table my mother served all
of her Thanksgiving meals prior to leaving this world a little over a year
ago. It was a day filled with great
food, much laughter, and quiet acknowledgement of those that were no longer at
our Thanksgiving table. The next meal was
in my own home, where myself, my husband, my two sons and a couple of friends,
gathered on the holiday to share in a smaller intimate meal. The house was lit mostly by candle light,
which gave the evening Thanksgiving meal a cozy feel, and allowed us to
experience this celebration in the warm glow of the good will being
shared. The third Thanksgiving meal was
slightly different, and one that took us out of our comfy home, and onto the
streets.
Often time when we hear the word consumption, especially this
time of year, we think of it in terms of economics. We hear on the news almost daily about how
much money this year’s consumer is expected to spend on this day of all sales
days, Black Friday. Sometimes when we
hear the word consumption we think of horrific events, such as a wild fire
consuming miles and miles of beautiful forest or family homes. Other times, such as in the hours after our own
Thanksgiving meal, we might lay back on the couch, unbutton the top button on
our pants, and begin lamenting on how might have consumed a bit too much. Yet how often do we have the opportunity to
experience Black Friday consumption, yet take away no food or products
whatsoever? How often are we able to
watch other people consume, maybe while our own stomachs are growling from a
lack of the evening meal, and experience such joy at the same time?
This Black Friday my family was offered the opportunity to
join many others at the local Buddhist temple in preparing yet another
Thanksgiving meal. The environment was a
bit more intense than that of my own kitchen, as there were some twenty-plus
people squeezed into a very small space, cleaning and chopping donated organic
vegetables to make salads, and packing deliciously warmed turkey and stuffing
into individual meal containers, all while others were carrying boxes of meals
from the temple kitchen out into the back of the several cars parked along the
street. We broke into groups and
caravanned across the city to go where the meals were most needed, out on the
streets. The night prior was a very wet
one, so we knew that the hundreds of folks that slept along our city streets
would have endured a less than comfy one known to the rest of us. With a smile on our face, and a respectful
offer of a warm day after Thanksgiving meal, we met each individual where life
had brought them, sharing what we had.
It was a joy to experience this with my husband and two
sons. It was lovely to interact with new
people, some I recognized from my weekly meditation class, and others whose
path I had yet to cross. There is
something that is both powerful and simplistic in the act of giving. It both feeds our being, and nurtures those
that are in need. It’s also an act of
humility, as throughout our own journey in this life, we both suffer and have
need for such kind gestures.
It is my hope that I will continue to be blessed with such
opportunities. Opportunities to give,
and opportunities to observe others consume, that which they have need for us
to share.
