Make Thanksgiving Count

This Thanksgiving, enjoy feasting on your favorite holiday foods, be thankful for your family and friends, and make sure you eat all your leftovers.

Last week, with Thanksgiving approaching, I was contemplating what to write about this year. In previous posts, I covered the green aspects of the first Thanksgiving, Black Friday consumerism, and reflected on green things I believe in, use, or do.

This year, instead of trying to decide which stuffing recipe to prepare, I was speculating about things like how much uneaten food Americans scrape off their Thanksgiving plates into the garbage disposal or how many tons of leftovers we toss in the trash after a week or so of moldering in the back of our refrigerators.

While Thanksgiving meal planners across the country were weighing menu options, wondering where to place Uncle Joe at the dining table, and considering whether to bake both a pumpkin and a pecan pie, I was thinking about overconsumption and food waste.

I know weird, right. I was not always like this.

Anyways, I decided to entitle my blog post, Thanksgiving – Lose the Leftovers and proceeded to write several hundred words aimed at convincing you and other readers to strive for a Thanksgiving meal with just enough to eat and no leftovers.

Fortunately, my family saved me from myself. This is how they did it.

My Family Saves Thanksgiving

My Mother had left me a voicemail during the day while I was diligently typing away and ignoring my phone. After finishing the rough draft, I called my Mother back and told her what I was writing about for Thanksgiving.

Her response was immediate and passionate. A lot of people, she claimed, get joy from cooking a big delicious Thanksgiving meal for their loved ones. People should be enjoying time with their families and not worrying about food waste. Besides, leftovers are an important part of Thanksgiving. My points about overconsumption and food waste fell on deaf ears; she assured me that she would have a lot to say in the post’s comment section.

Thankfully, at this point, my spouse rang the dinner triangle (yes, we do have one, made by our son Eric) so I told my Mother I loved her and hung up.

Feeling slightly deflated, but still righteous about my topic, I sat down for dinner and told my family about my conversation with my Mother. It did not go well.

My older son, Eric, immediately agreed with Grandma Joan. He looks forward to eating leftovers after Thanksgiving and would never waste them. My younger son, Adam, said that Thanksgiving is the worst day to try to get people to think about food waste. Thanksgiving is about feasting and enjoyment, not about tackling the world’s problems. The conversation continued downhill from there.

After dinner, I began washing the dishes, mulling over my family’s comments. While I was wiping down the kitchen countertops, I realized that they were right. Thanksgiving is the ideal day to feast and overindulge because it only occurs once a year. We can be mindful of not wasting food the rest of the year. My environmental zeal had gotten the best of me. Writing a post about food waste for Thanksgiving was probably not the best idea.

I am grateful to my frank and loving family for giving me honest feedback. Now, I have no choice but to embrace Thanksgiving and make it count.

Make Thanksgiving Count

This Thanksgiving I am going to enjoy having both my sons at home for the first time in eight years, eat two pieces of pie, go for a walk, play games, and be thankful for my wonderful family who gives me tough love when I need it.

Dear readers, this is my Thanksgiving wish for you.

Delight in feasting on a Thanksgiving meal with all the trimmings. Relish eating two pieces of pie. Leave the dirty dishes on the kitchen counter and go for a walk with your friends and family or play a game or just talk. Be thankful for people and wild things and the beautiful planet we all call home. Eat and savor every morsel of the leftovers in your refrigerator.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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• Let’s Take Back Thanksgiving – Opt Out of Consumerism
• Thanksgiving Reflections – What are You For?
• The First Thanksgiving was a Green Event