I Used to Hate Thanksgiving. This Year, Something Changed.
Thanksgiving is the worst holiday. At least, that’s what I used to think. A holiday that revolves around food is easily a minefield for anyone with body issues. A holiday that revolves around family isn’t much better for somebody surrounded by dysfunction.
Growing up, I used to beg my mom to let us do something different for “Turkey Day.” We were very poor and on welfare, but my mother pulled up all the stops to create holiday feasts for Thanksgiving and Christmas. We lived off condensed soup and chipped beef on toast for months before the holidays just so mom could cook and bake up an excessive storm. On the upside, she was good at it. But the downside was this feeling that she cared more about the food than her actual children.
See, my sister and I would have been happy with just a fraction of the food our mother turned out. We would have preferred more family time. Or, we would have liked to do some of the cooking too. But our mother insisted upon doing everything herself — and then complained about never having any help.
While we were still young, we at least got to do the Thanksgiving feast with three cousins, two aunts, an uncle, and a grandmother. Yet, those were stressful relations. My mother’s family is among the most deeply disturbed set of people I’ve ever known. It was common…
