Happy Thanksgiving

When people wish me a Happy Thanksgiving I feel good.

When people wish me a Merry Christmas, typically I lash out with a backhand to the cheek, a kick to the shins and a "Move on and out of my life with your Merry Christmas bullshit."

Or something like that.

I believe in Thanksgiving and I think most people do, whether they are aware of it or not. We all stumble around with Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year on our lips.

We say it mechanically and we don't really think about it. It is what you do in November and December and January. Its what you say.

But the Happy Thanksgiving thing has a genuineness to it that is unavoidable. No stress. No presents to buy. No budget to over extend. No mall shopping and pill popping. (Sorry - its the rhyme thing).

I guess truthfully there is some stress. At The Asylum, as people continuously staggered to the counter with mountains of booze, many of them would complain about dinner preparations or travel or, worst of all, in-laws.

But I noticed that the majority of people do not complain about it, and those who do are not vehement about it. Kind of a subdued complaint. Like the weekly complaint quota has not been met so I gotta say something kind of thing.

That's where the genuineness comes in. I think we know it subconsciously. My theory, which I have expounded upon endlessly over the years, is that Thanksgiving is a pure holiday.

It is simply about family getting together over a meal. Talking, laughing, reminiscing, and appreciating each other. Free and easy. Football on the fancy-vision projection device.

I also believe that our intuitive understanding that family is really everything - that love is really everything - that this is truly the core of our existence as humans - I believe that understanding rises to the surface.

It breaks free of the every day grind I can't pay my bills my car broke down and my dog bit me bullshit. It forces our heads up for air and the aroma is sweet.

"Merry Christmas" should be stricken from the English language.

"Every idiot who goes about with "Merry Christmas" on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart." I love you, Ebenezer Scrooge.

Merry is a wimpy word that you never use otherwise. As such, it should carry potency at Christmas but it does not. Because it is usually uttered through gritted teeth.

Happy New Year has some truth to it. We all had somewhat unhappy old years and we all want happy new years. So I believe we mean it when we wish each other Happy New Year because we are all in the same boat.

But you don't get together for New Year's dinner.

Thanksgiving is the King-Hell daddy of all the holidays. I stole the King-Hell thing from Hunter S. Thompson. That is a phrase he put together and used to describe the ultimate, the pinnacle, of whatever he was referring to. I love the sound of it and borrow it unabashedly.

Today is the day. Revel in it. Look around that dinner table at the people you love and the people who love you. Allow your mind to absorb the fact that these people are your life, YOUR LIFE,  and that you are lucky to have them.

Enjoy the dinner. Cram as much into your belly as you possibly can and then eat some more. Drink enough to be happy but not enough to ruin the day. Or tomorrow. Dig football.

Tonight when everybody is gone and you are settled deeply into the recliner, recognize that you lived your life today. Truly lived it. That you caught the vibe.

I wish everybody today a Happy Thanksgiving, a royally, laugh filled and fulfilling Thanksgiving.

I wish it with all the love in my heart.