Update... Nov 17, 2006

Good morning to one and all!

Yet another holiday is upon me, staring me in the face actually, and I am happy to announce that this holiday brings with it something that very few holidays do… not one, but TWO big, beautiful days off of work! Yes folks it is a four day weekend for Aunt Martha. I have examined many holidays for you over the past year (and then some) so let’s talk about Turkey Day.

Thanksgiving is a wonderful time of year, especially in Texas. Up North, in let’s say the wilds of New Jersey, people are freezing their butts off! Yep, they just fall right off. It’s crazy. Chicago has already gotten snow this year… you heard me… snow! But in Texas, it isn’t like that… we get the holiday chill without the freezer burn, its great! I can bundle up and drink hot chocolate. I can enjoy my hot chocolate. When you are in Maine, and someone hands you nice steaming cup of hot chocolate… it is a harder proposition, and you don’t enjoy it. First they hand it to you, and you find yourself gripping the cup as tightly as you can (without crushing it in your hulk-like grip, sending scalding hot chocolate all over you) because the mittens (or gloves you are wearing) are causing this cup to slide precariously out of your hands. Now, the hot chocolate you are holding is at a piping hot eight million degrees, and there is a 100% chance that if you take a sip now, it will burn your tongue, the back of your throat, and those lips that are now in a permanent state of being chapped, but if you don’t drink it now… it will be cold in about 35 seconds, and what is the point of drinking cold chocolate, when you are freezing? So, you take that cup that you are gripping with one hand, with the other hand you push the scarves and hats and ski masks around your face, desperately trying to find your mouth that you are going to expose to the air (which will hurt b/c they are chapped) and then burn the heck out of them! It is crazy. Now, in Texas. You aren’t wearing gloves, and if you (especially in Dallas) they are designer gloves, most likely leather with a cashmere lining, and they easily handle the hot chocolate. You feel no immediate pressure to drink from the cup, you feel that you can take your time, blow on it a bit, because it isn’t going to get cold on its own any time soon. So take your time… enjoy the holiday hot chocolate.

But I digress, where was I again? Ah yes, Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving has some real merits, the most important being the four day weekend. You see many people will argue, but you get Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off… yes, but those two days can fall in the middle of the week, Thanksgiving is a GUARANTEED four day weekend, there is no way around it. You have to hand it to our founding fathers when they put this holiday together, they knew what they were doing. They may have been sitting around in the continental congress, with those big, white, curly wigs on, and someone said… “Hey, as long as we are putting some laws down, deciding on what we are going to call this nation of ours, figuring out how to steal more land from the natives, we really need to put some thought into this Thanksgiving feast thing. Now, I don’t know about the rest of you, but come the end of the year… I am dragging ass a little bit. I could use me a four day weekend. So, how about we don’t do this whole, fourth of July thing, and make it a set date… I get why we are doing “the fourth of July”, but this is just an excuse to have a big meal, so lets think outside the box a bit. Kinda like Easter, they have a whole little formula for that holiday, we could do the same thing, they call it a “floating feast”. I love that, Thanksgiving… the floating feast. I think we should just do it on a Thursday, end of the year… and call it a four day weekend. Who’s with me?” These guys knew what they were doing! So, there you have it. Even if Christmas and Christmas Eve fall and the weekend and they just so happen to give you the four day holiday you are so desperately in need of, they come with four days worth of family obligations. Oh yeah… you have the presents you have to assemble, buy batteries for, and in some cases replace b/c one of the other siblings has destroyed a newly received treasure. You also have the after Christmas sales that are a family must at my house. You have the get togethers. You may even have a family sing-a-long on the day after… you never know, people have some crazy Christmas traditions. Christmas has the hustle, the bustle, and the fan fair. Not Thanksgiving… you eat… that’s it. You don’t HAVE to do anything else. The only other thing to do around Thanksgiving (which is optional, for some people in this world, not for me) is to watch football.

That is icing on the cake!!! The cake was good by itself, a four day weekend of good food and tons of left-overs, but throw in the Cowboy game, and then the Aggies vs. Texas… that is sheer Utopia!!! Does it get any better? Yes, it does. If the Aggies win, that is when I feel like the year could just come to a close… I have done enough, seen enough, lived through enough this year… bring on 2007! I don’t have to have Christmas, why? Because Christmas came early! Santa brought me a win over Texas. I don’t need anything else… don’t need diamonds, furs, or a new Lexus GS350… hint, hint… I am content to let the year go. It has happened in the last decade that my beloved Aggies have defeated Texas, it was 1998 and I was there for that game. Yes, I can stand up and be counted!!! I was there, in full maroon regalia, to watch my Aggies beat the ever livin’, ever lovin’, compound, complex, hell outta tu!!! It was fantastic… and now, I am hopeful again. I am hopeful that my Aggies will be triumphant. I am hoping that they will just win the game, the score could be 13-10, it could be 21-20… I don’t care how big the margin is… I don’t care if it is one point win, or a twenty point win (although the latter would give me some big-time bragging rights, that I could use) I just want the win. Is that too much to ask?

Bit I’ll digress again. Where, was I again, again? Ah, yes Thanksgiving! Now, there are few holidays in this world where being single is really an asset. This social status is really working for you instead of against you, it is your ace in the hole. Now, there are so many holidays that a significant other really is nice, sometimes even necessary, to make the holiday more enjoyable… There’s Christmas, nice to have someone to shop for, nice to have someone to see lights with, even go see a Christmas show… maybe send a Christmas card. There’s Valentine’s day… do I need to say anything here? Fourth of July… someone to go see fireworks with. And the list go on. But not at Thanksgiving! Nope, being single can be a good thing. I am sure you are asking yourself “Why would she say that? Is she finally just cracked up?” No, being single at Thanksgiving immediately does one thing for you… it means you are NOT, I repeat NOT, hosting Thanksgiving dinner!!! No my single friends you are going to be a guest!!! I love being a guest! My Uncle Ed calls himself “America’s Guest”… so I think being a guest, really suits me, its in my genes! I can bring a bottle of wine, maybe make a dessert… something small. Do I have to clean my house in order for scads of people to come over and really mess it up? No, no one is coming over, no one is going to drop wine on my carpet, food on my couches, or wipe the muddy feet on my doorstep! Nope, I’m single! So, what do all single people in the world do on a holiday such as this… they go to either a married family member’s home, or they join their married friends, or they go to their friends family’s house. It is the ONE holiday that you WANT, neigh, you YEARN to be single!! And low and behold, I am! Yahtzee!!!

Well, I am going to go ahead and close out this little update! There is always more to share, and come next week… I am sure I will gain a few, so there will be more of me to share!!! Until next time, enjoy your turkey… and try eating it at someone else’s home, trust me it tastes better!!!

Peace, Love, and four day weekends,
Martha