The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

Okay folks, I'm gonna have to go ahead & ask for your patience early. You see, Sunday starts my absolute favorite time of the year. From the first of November through (roughly) 5 pm on Christmas Day, I'm more insufferable than usual because I'm gonna have that holly jolly holiday spirit if it kills me.

I know, I know...November 1st is way too early to start thinking about Christmas. But it's not just Christmas...I love Thanksgiving as well. In fact, most every Thanksgiving has been pretty cool except for 1986, which I like to call "The Great Baloney Thanksgiving." Here's the story...

I was a senior in high school. The girl I'd been dating kinda, sorta dumped me the day before Turkey Day. On Thanksgiving itself, I got called into work early that morning. My parents were leaving after lunch to visit relatives out of town, but my Mother says, "Go on to work, I'll fix you some fried chicken & stuff to eat when you get back." We never were a huge turkey family...anyway, I hustle off to carry golf bags for rich dudes who weren't going to up their tips just because it was a holiday, but I figure I'll have some good grub when I get back.

I get home, parents are packing the car. I innocently wander into the kitchen, expecting to find my Thanksgiving bird all ready. "Funny," I think, "I don't smell anything. What's up with that?" My beloved mother, in her haste to get on the road, forgot to make it. I get an apology, some money for the weekend, and a "Have fun." But no chicken.

So, that was the Thanksgiving that my dumped self ate a baloney sandwich & listened to OMD's "If You Leave" over and over and over again that night.

The weekend improved & I felt somewhat better. I didn't even try and use the guilt angle to improve my Christmas haul, which I thought was very mature of me.

The moral: No moral really...except that a baloney sandwich & pre-emo getting dumped music is a crappy way to spend Thanksgiving.