There’s more to our Thanksgiving than turkey, dressing, and pumpkin pie. Oh, we celebrate the holiday in the traditional sense here at the Chicken Ranch. Besides the standard fare, there is always an over-abundance of vegetables, snacks, finger foods and sugary delights to serve the 30 or so guests that dine with us on this holiday. Garden veggies and herbs from each years bounty are always part of the turkey day table fare. There is every kind of drink imaginable to quench the thirsts of all. And we all eat and drink too much. But, this is only partly why we come together.
On cold Thanksgiving days the fire place adds comfort as the flames do a spirit dance around the logs. Folks take turns keeping the fire stoked with the oak and hickory wood from the hearth. The young folks play football out south of the house. Some of us older ones sit on the back porch, if the weather permits, while in the house, a game of Scrabble, dominoes, or cards is engaged by others . At times, someone is at the piano, or I play my guitar to furnish a bit background music. A few folks just sit and visit, and the conversation is always lively and laughter-filled. But, this is only partly why we come together.
We are as diverse a group as one could imagine. We are not all conservative thinkers that gather here, and we are not all liberal leaning. We are not all wealthy, nor are we all poor. We are not all union members or all business owners. We are not all of the same faith or religious ideology. We are not all Irish, Scottish, Mexican, or Italian descended. We are not all white, nor are we all black. Our commonality is not what we have, what our opinions are, what we do, or what we look like... for we are a mixture of all the aforementioned things. We are as different in some ways as wind and water. No, being all the same is not why we come together.
We come together at Thanksgiving because we are family. We gather here at the Chicken Ranch to celebrate our gratitude for life, and for one another. We are each one of us different. We are each one accepted. We are bound by blood, and bound by choice. And we are together... a family.
We come together in thanksgiving because we live in freedom, because we are healthy, because we live in a land of plenty. We come together on this holiday, as I am certain many other folks do... to celebrate our thankfulness for life. We gather here because we are one, bound together in love.
So as we prepare for the onslaught of aunts, uncles, cousins, grandkids, in-laws and more, we are happy in our anticipation of food, fun, and most of all... family.
From all of us at the Chicken Ranch, we hope you have as happy a Thanksgiving as we plan to, and may God bless you and yours.
