No Drinking Birds

Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, begins to take on new meanings. Listening the the radio, I hear a woman say "I am going out today to spend, it's to help the economy, right?" She is so matter of fact I want to cry. I feel something on my lap. It is my jaw.

I remember the weeks after 9/11. National mourning turned to national outrage and vehement patriotism. Flags began to appear in the rear windows of the passing SUV's, then on the little antenna's of Honda Civics, then finally in the gutters beside the storm drains and in the streams that run through the watersheds.

There is something odd about good intentions. Hell I wanted to buy a damn flag. They must have been putting something in that water for that to happen. I remember walking into a gas station thinking "maybe they sell flags here" then catching myself "WTF!" It isn't that I am not patriotic. I am just not sure how much of my patriotic sentiment is going to be captured in a piece of old glory flapping from my antenna, (admittedly it would look like the flag flying over Fort McHenry, and that kind of rustification has a certain appeal, still.)

I think about the looks on my students faces. "We don't celebrate Thanksgiving."
"Why Not!!?"
"Well, for one thing, the only person in my family that eats turkey is my wife." It is surprising how many people are actually satisfied by this statement as an answer. After all, doesn't Thanksgiving equal turkey? "None of our extended family lives close by." Heads begin to nod. I am reminded of the infamous drinking bird. Once the Drinking Bird's head is dunked in water, it will begin bobbing back and forth taking "drinks" with every bob. "With the newborn, Thanksgiving is just too hard to orchestrate." By this point I have convinced the masses. If I were running for office I might have to work harder, how much harder is hard to say, still I am dissing Thanksgiving, the holy of holies, the American holiday, I don't think you can get elected to public office by telling people that Thanksgiving is a sham. I am pretty sure that if you even suggest as much, you have pretty much signed the death warrant on any hope of public office.

Even so, our Thankgiving was actually pretty good. J. found another family, friends we've known for a few years now, that also don't have extended families close by. We combined our two dinners and actually made something of a feast. Later we played 'Apples to Apples' and 'Spy Alley' before settling in to watch the 'Reduced Shakespeare Company'. D. said it was the best Thanksgiving she had ever had. I think she might be right. At least in recent history. It had a... casualness, you might call it, about it that was deeply satisfying.

As far as black friday goes, I didn't make it to the store today, even though D. insisted that everyone go to Target, on principle, I believe. I stayed home with the baby and played the Wii, drank a beer and made quiche, salmon and twice baked potatoes so that the hearty shoppers would have something to sink their teeth into. Tomorrow, instead of going out shopping, I will head over to a clients house and hang a painting they bought last week. J said it will help pay for x-mas. I suspect she's right. Pretty soon I will make my way out, brave a few high end specialty shops, (I stay away from malls), make a few choice purchases and then settle back and rest on the laurels of my shopping acumen. No drinking birds.