Thanksgiving Overload

Today Dining Services offered their pre-Thanksgiving feast which boasted:

• Assorted Salads
  
• Roast Turkey
  
• Mashed Potatoes & Gravy
  
• Herb Bread Dressing
  
• Vegetable
  
• Sweet Potatoes
  
• Dinner Rolls
  
• Pumpkin Pie Squares
  
• Fountain Beverage

It looks good, to be sure, and it was only $6! A lot of people around campus were very excited about the pre-Thanksgiving feast, understandably. But as I looked over the menu I realized that over the course of the next week I was going to partake in so many Thanksgiving feasts, that I decided to say "No Thanks" to Thanksgiving.

Every year my husband and I have the same dilemma when it comes to Thanksgiving. Our families all live in the same town, and with the parents and the siblings and step-siblings and grandparents and the like it usually ends up that we eat Thanksgiving dinners several times a day for several days in a row. Don't get me wrong, I love cranberry sauce and turkey as much as the next person, but last year we had 5 Thanksgiving dinners to attend! After awhile, it's not fun anymore, it just hurts.

I know what you all are thinking--why not do like they taught us in elementary school and just say no? But have you ever tried to turn down your Norwegian grandmother's "at-least-have-some-of-the-potatoes-that-I-made-special-for-you"? Or your German mother-in-law's "why-don't-you-want-any-of-my-pumpkin-pie-you-aren't- on-a-diet-are-you"? It doesn't work. People's feelings seem to get hurt every time. So the best solution I can come up with is to stock up on the antacids and strap myself in for the Thanksgiving ride. That and plan on spending a lot of time on the treadmill when I get back.