Around the Bluhmin’ Town

By

Judy Bluhm

Tis the Season of Thanks and Giving. What are you thankful for this year? Love of family, good health, a purposeful life, one purple cast? So, my granddaughter, Brodee, was skateboarding and broke her arm. It hurt. She cried. But she is so thankful that the doctor was able to put her arm in a purple cast, because it is her favorite color. Thankfulness is like that. Something “bad” happens, but we still muster the strength to be grateful for what we have. As Brodee likes to say, “You git what you git and you don’t have a fit.”

Giving. It is the spirit of this holiday season. More than ever, our charities need help. Americans are the most generous folks in the world. We are on track to donate approximately $600 billion this year. We also give time, food, clothes, toys, goods and services. What better way to celebrate Thanksgiving than to open our hearts (and wallets)?

Feasting. A centerpiece of Thanksgiving. So, what’s for dinner? Let me guess. A big bird. We Americans love our turkey. Did you know that one million people will call (often in desperation) the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line around the holidays? From anxious first-time cooks to experienced chefs, it seems that every now and then, it helps to “talk turkey” with an expert. Sort of like Urgent Care for cooks.

There are fifty “turkey experts” standing by to advise folks on how to safely thaw out the bird (no, do NOT put it in a bathtub) or how to speed up the cooking process when you forgot to turn on the oven (impossible). Oh, and those hot turkey fryers? For the love of God get your fire extinguisher handy because they can burn the house down! Be careful! Cooking can be dangerous!

Yikes, if a million folks each year have been calling into a hotline about cooking turkeys for the past 35 years, it might mean that something is way too complicated! Perhaps the only reason we eat turkey is because it is big enough to feed a crowd, even if we don’t necessarily like it. How many times a year do people actually roast a turkey? Haha. Maybe once.

The Pilgrims didn’t care much about cooking turkeys. They had bigger fish to fry. Getting off a ship in an unfamiliar place, unsettled, with only hope and faith for a better life. One hundred men, women and children spend sixty-six days crossing the Atlantic to come to a “New World.” They overcame harsh weather, sickness and fear. They faced hardships that we cannot even imagine.

They met the challenge and survived. There was no way back home, and so in 1621 a group of brave and weary souls joined the Wampanoag tribe for a feast to “give thanks.” The early settlers stewed pumpkins, and filled a hollowed-out gourd with milk, honey and spices, then warmed it over a fire. The beginning of our pumpkin spice obsession?

Dear Readers, this is the holiday to feel thankful, blessed and turkey-obsessed. Let the feast-a-thon begin!

Judy Bluhm is a writer and a local realtor. Contact Judy at [email protected] or visit www.aroundthebluhmintown.com.