Thanksgetting by Dino Tripodis

Thanksgiving. A time to be thankful and appreciative of who and what we have in our lives for yet another year. It’s a time to gather with friends and family and over-indulge over food, spirits and an array of desserts.

But if the truth be told, for most of us it’s really Thanksgetting. I’ll use myself to explain and unless you’re the the ThanksGiver, you may reluctantly see my point. I’ve lost count of how many, but my sister has been at the helm for Thanksgiving for decades. Before that it was my grandmother. One would think it would’ve been my mother, but sometimes culinary gifts “skip” a generation. That’s another story.

Truth be told, Thanksgiving takes place because a small percentage of Americans take control of the day. The rest of us are Thanks-getters; maybe arriving with a token pie, bottle of wine, rolls or a side dish that more than likely the host will actually put off to the “side” with an unspoken “thanks for trying” because not only is the host at the helm, they also have a pre-determined blueprint of what should be on the table and where.

We, the Thanks-getters? Ah, we are the privileged who have been invited to partake and enjoy. We ARE thankful to say the least, but more than likely have “given” nothing or not much by comparison. So, if there’s a tradition at your holiday table, where everyone says what they’re thankful for, maybe you should be bold enough to admit to be a Thanksgetter. And hopefully…you at least brought a pie.