Post-Thanksgiving Turkey Question from Freakonomics

Freakonomics.com had some interesting thoughts on Turkey for Thanksgiving.  It is clearly my least favorite part of the Thanksgiving meal, well, right after the giblets…which I don’t even try.

I always take a small piece of turkey so I don’t appear rude to the chef and then load up on Mashed Potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, sausage stuffing, green been caserole, and bread.  (I just got really hungry.

So, Freakonomics asks, why do so many of us have turkey for Thanksgiving?  I think it is clearly option number 1.

Why Roast a Turkey? - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com

This leads me to wonder: why do so many of us have turkey for Thanksgiving?

People rarely roast turkeys during the year. I am guessing that roast turkey is pretty far down anyone’s list of the most delicious foods. So why do so many of us go against our true preferences on this one day? Here are a few ideas:

1) We love tradition more than we love turkey.

2) We love to do what everyone else does, and if everyone else is roasting a turkey, we’ll roast a turkey too, damn it.

3) A roast turkey is a very cheap way to feed a lot of people.

4) Roasting a turkey gives the host a way to keep busy and avoid the once-a-year relatives who have invaded his/her home.

5) Turkey is a great delivery system for gravy, which is what we really like, and it’s hard to justify putting gravy on other foods that are naturally more flavorful.

Thanksgiving: Free Software We’re Most Thankful For - Lifehacker

Lifehacker is a favorite source of information for me, and when I get my blogroll up and running, it will definitely be near the top of the list.  In the meantime, here are the top 10 of the 46 titles on the free software that they are most thankful for.

Thanksgiving: Free Software We’re Most Thankful For
# Firefox (see also: The Power User’s Guide to Firefox 3)
# VLC Media Player (see also: Master Your Digital Media with VLC)
# Ubuntu (see also: Hardy Heron Makes Linux Worth Another Look)
# Open Office (see also: A First Look at OpenOffice.org 3.0)
# Pidgin (see also: Ten Must-Have Plug-ins to Power Up Pidgin)
# Launchy (see also: Take Launchy beyond application launching)
# Digsby (see also: Digsby Improves Performance, Supports LinkedIn)
# Gmail (see also: Our full Gmail coverage)
# Adium (see also: Adium Chat Improves Menu Bar Item, Corrects Your IM Grammar )
# CCleaner (see also: CCleaner 2.0 Decrapifies Your PC)

I use five of the top ten on a regular basis.  Firefox, VLC Media Player, OpenOffice.org, Gmail, and CCleaner.

Thanksgiving, waxed staircases, and broken tailbones

Thanksgiving in my family has always been overshadowed by some kind of minor tragedy. I will never forget the time when I was around ten years old and we visited my Aunt in Arnold, MO. We were just stopping by to say, “Hi,” on our way to my grandmother’s house. (Incidentally, at the time, we really did have to travel over the river and through some woods to get there.) Upon saying goodbye, my mother slipped down my aunt’s freshly waxed staircase…breaking her tailbone.

Why in the world anyone would wax their staircase is beyond me. Regardless, we spent the rest of the day at the hospital and my mother sat on a foamy orange thing when she went to the bathroom for quite awhile.

Thanksgivings have always been a little like that for us, and somewhere along the line, at least for my immediate family, Thanksgiving was less about doing anything special, because it brought back too many memories, and more about just staying in touch.  This Thanksgiving, my father and one sister are visiting my grandmother in Florida and my mom and step-dad are visiting my other sister in Virginia.

However, now I am a father of four, my kids love the holiday, and all they have talked about for a week is the turkey they can’t wait to eat and licking their lips over the sweet potatoes. (I hope it isn’t the one from the Sarah Palin interview.) We also have a new tradition. For the last three years, we visit my wife’s Aunt in O’Fallon, MO. It is a great time. We do what most families do. We sit and eat, a lot, have a beer or two, a glass of wine, maybe another beer, continuously tell the kids to stop running in the house, and watch football.

Thanksgiving has taken on new meaning for me. I am truly grateful for my wife, three boys, and a new daughter. I am thankful that my wife and I have managed to scrape together enough money to have and keep a house, I am thankful for my parents, step-parents, grandparents, sisters, aunts, uncles, and friends, and I am very thankful that we can all get together in our own due time to enjoy some turkey and some laughs.

Unfortunately, in the tradition of Thanksgiving tragedies, my wife’s Aunt has come down with Pneumonia and we will be having Thanksgiving at my in-laws. Not that that is a bad thing, if you knew my in-laws you would know that it’s not, it’s just one more typical interruption in a wonderful family tradition. Happy Thanksgiving! 

Franksgiving - Things You Didn’t Know About Thanksgiving - TIME

I have always thought many great things about Franklin D. Roosevelt.  He was the perfect man to lead our country during that viciously bad time for America.  However, the lesson should be learned for all future presidents, don’t mess with our holidays!

Franksgiving - Things You Didn’t Know About Thanksgiving - TIME
FDR learned the hard way not to mess with some traditions. In 1939, the President declared that Americans should celebrate the annual feast one week early, hoping the decision would spur retail sales during the Great Depression. But Americans did not react kindly to the New Deal meal. Some took to the streets while others took to name-calling; the mayor of Atlantic City solved the controversy by declaring his residents would simply enjoy two meals — Thanksgiving and “Franksgiving.” After two years of squabbling (or gobbling, as it were), Congress adopted a resolution in 1941 setting the fourth Thursday of November as the legal holiday.