Althouse: "When October came, I thought, gee, you know, what's going to happen at Thanksgiving?"

November 20, 2010

"When October came, I thought, gee, you know, what's going to happen at Thanksgiving?"

"So I just thought, well, there must be some other people that are in the same boat. Why should they have that rotten feeling? Why should they be stuck home alone?"

What do you do when you see Thanksgiving looming ahead and no one has included you in their plans?

25 comments:

rhhardin said...: Rejoice.; 11/20/10, 8:54 AM
AllenS said...: Buy beer. Then you don't have to share any.; 11/20/10, 9:05 AM
Anonymous said...: This Thanksgiving is going to tough on me - My Dems lost the House. I also had issues with my GF and in-laws. Thus, it has been bad, very bad. I am simply hoping for 2012 Thanksgiving when I will rejoice at the White House being firmly in control by Obama-Biden after the Nov. election. I also will be happy at the Senate and House back with My Dems.

Yes, it is going to be a slow process but in 2012 I will rejoice.

Here is what the GOP can do help me:
- Make Palin think she is ready to take the Admin. She is the best. She is today's George Washington. Make her run. Please. I beg you.

-Encourage GOP wannabes to "kill each other". Encourage GOP to do interviews with liberal magazines. Have these conversations taped. Show what Romney thinks of Palin and vice-a-versa. Make Huckabee angry about his views. Make Jindal think he is today's Jefferson. And so on. Support your favorite GOP and make them feel that they are the chosen ones.

Will you help me to rejoice?; 11/20/10, 9:16 AM
traditionalguy said...: That is when the entire American community has its annual sabbath rest. So get a good book. Family is what may be missing in action for various reasons.Try finding a neighbor in same boat and each cook half the menue. If you have no friends, then join a church and never be alone again.; 11/20/10, 9:30 AM
Omaha1 said...: I am in the opposite situation - we usually have several people over but may have only one or two guests this year. I love to cook for others and Thanksgiving is a great opportunity to do so.

Luke 14:15-24

15 When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.”

16 Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. 17 At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’

18 “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’

19 “Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’

20 “Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’

21 “The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’

22 “‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’

23 “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. 24 I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’”; 11/20/10, 9:43 AM
Omaha1 said...: Also, this causes me to recall when our church used to put on a free Thanksgiving dinner for anyone who wanted to come. We don't do it any longer for many reasons, a lot of the members are too old to help now and we are not in good shape financially. But I have a lot of great memories of carving up dozens of turkeys & making gallons of gravy. We always had a lot of satisfied "customers."; 11/20/10, 9:49 AM
Shanna said...: That is a lovely story! What a nice idea.

Of course, it's completed (as most stories are now) with government deciding they have to be involved by requiring a permit.; 11/20/10, 9:49 AM
Unknown said...: What do you do?

You make your own holiday.

Most of The Blonde's family will out of town this year, so we're going to be as hideously self-indulgent as we can afford - which ain't much, but we'll have some fun with it.

You have to make your own fun and good times in this life. If they include other people, so much the better, but you can't wait by the phone waiting for it to ring.; 11/20/10, 9:52 AM
Anonymous said...: The man in the story hosts dinner at the First Baptist Church, but the story doesn't explain his connection with the church.

I'm thankful that I've always spent Thanksgiving with relatives. Thanksgiving and Christmas are times when the local missions have too many people who want to volunteer.; 11/20/10, 10:00 AM
traditionalguy said...: Book to read on Thanksgiving: Of Plymouth Plantations by Wm. Bradford.It will open your eyes.; 11/20/10, 10:03 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: All predicated on divorce.

People are shit.; 11/20/10, 10:05 AM
traditionalguy said...: edutcher...You said the best advice for enjoying life, which is to schedule things to do with others weeks or months in advance. Also include young, middle and old age friends. We all need what the others have to offer.; 11/20/10, 10:07 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: AmPo,

Encourage GOP wannabes to "kill each other".

Too late: Dems got there first.

Sorry, Old Man.; 11/20/10, 10:09 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: Tg,

If you have no friends, then join a church and never be alone again.

*Groan*; 11/20/10, 10:10 AM
traditionalguy said...: Crack, my friend... You may find yourself looking at New Age fools all of the time and in a way advertising for them. To be happy we need to be looking at good people too. Have a blessed Turkey Day.; 11/20/10, 10:11 AM
Trooper York said...: I have to cook all day. And my mother-in-law is coming over to stay for a few days.

That's why I love Memorial Day.

Screw Thanksgiving.

If I ever run across Squanto I am going to give him a kick in his cornucopia.; 11/20/10, 10:45 AM
Anonymous said...: That's a great idea. I suppose a Facebook invitation would work these days.; 11/20/10, 11:06 AM
Bender said...: What do you do when Thanksgiving is looming ahead and you see that no one has included this person or that person in their plans?; 11/20/10, 11:49 AM
David said...: 1. Make my own plans and include someone else.
2. Beg.
3. Home the Lions game does not suck this year.; 11/20/10, 2:03 PM
jimbino said...: My girlfriend is a nurse who always works Thanksgiving and Christmas, so we cannot celebrate together. Sometimes we are invited to turkey dinner with the understanding that I can attend alone but, of course, it's not the same.

So instead of doing all those holiday celebrations, we spend 3 months together in Rio in the summer.; 11/20/10, 2:16 PM
madAsHell said...: "When October came, I thought, gee, you know, how much painful small talk will I be able to tolerate at Thanksgiving"; 11/20/10, 3:37 PM
MadisonMan said...: we spend 3 months together in Rio in the summer.

Our Northern Hemisphere Summer, or theirs?

I hope it's the latter.; 11/20/10, 3:57 PM
rhhardin said...: Rio is having last summer.; 11/20/10, 5:51 PM
dick said...: When I was in the Army stationed at the Pentagon my wife asked all the single guys I worked with to come by for Thanksgiving dinner. She did the whole 9 yards and we had 10 guys there. A wonderful time was had by all. I got thank yous from all of them for weeks.

This is the conservative way of dealing with things. A private citizen sees a problem and does something about it. The govt got involved in getting the permit but the rest was up to him and it helped the people and in a way it helped him as well.; 11/21/10, 12:47 AM
Robert Cook said...: "This is the conservative way of dealing with things. A private citizen sees a problem and does something about it."

No, the "conservative" way of doing things would be to charge the guests for their meals...it's the "free market," don't you know? You're doing good and making money at the same time...Double Win!!

Giving food away for free and allowing just anyone to drop by unannounced for a free meal is socialism and is heresy to the Randian view of the world! (Not that all conservatives are Randians...I don't think they're all that stupid/nuts.)

Really? You've gotta pull in some partison conservative vs. liberal bullshit that has nothing to do with what this man is doing, just to score points? You're as absurdly desperate to shroud conservatism in the warm glow of this altruistic behavior as Traditional Guy was the other day on the thread about Mark Twain's autobiography where he baselessly compared Palin to Twain, because "Were he around today, Twain would be looked down upon (like Palin) as an uneducated hillbilly" (or words to that effect).

Please...it's not always about scoring points for your side.; 11/21/10, 7:44 AM