Thanksgiving - a tradition of the past?

In twelve days many people across America will sit down with friends and family at a table spread with assorted food that has become synonymous with Thanksgiving.  Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, sweet potato casserole, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, and more.  The food may be dictated by family traditions,whether it be the more sophisticated praline topping on the sweet potato casserole, or the kid friendly marshmallow topping; green bean casserole or a more contemporary macaroni and cheese. 

There are also those people in America who will have their Thanksgiving day intruded upon as they prepare to go to work.  Understandably there will always be occupations like the Military, Police, Firefighters etc., that require their employees to be available 24/7, however there are also businesses that could stand to give their employees the day off and this blog is written w/ them in mind.   In the more recent years corporate greed has dictated that a dollar is more important than recognising a national holiday like Thanksgiving, and giving their employees a day off.  What is the driving power behind the madness to require employees to work on a national holiday?  The answer seems to be a mixture of greedy corporations, and impatient consumers that feed the frenzy.  

This year I'm encouraging others around me to pledge to take back Thanksgiving and Respect the bird!!!  There's no reason to not take the pledge - if you're disgusted with Christmas stuff appearing as early as September, if you're annoyed with the Christmas songs playing just days after Halloween, if you've had the unfortunate experience to work Thanksgiving in the past, if you detest Black Friday etc., take the pledge!

Naturally there will be those who may hold a dissenting view, and you're more than welcome to, but for me
I love Thanksgiving!  As a USMC Brat and formerly a USAF spouse, there were many Thanksgivings where I was unable to spend time with my family.  For those who think of Thanksgiving as "just another day" you'll never understand what it's like to miss Thanksgiving until you're in a new city separated from your family by over a thousand miles, and you fight back the tears wishing you could be "home" to celebrate Thanksgiving.  Try as you might to make your Thanksgiving dinner "just like" mum made, eventually you sit down to a table full of food, yet empty of friends and family.

Naturally as Thanksgiving approaches, I'm thankful that my granna and parents have kept the spirit of Thanksgiving alive for the family, I'm thankful for the recipes that I've acquired from my granna & my mum as they are both great cooks!  I'm also thankful to be a part of a team effort to tell corporate America that enough is enough!  We want our turkey, we want the stores to shut down and we want Thanksgiving to have its rightful recognition!