Thanksgiving Song Performer (3:10)

How dare we.

Sasha Stone (3:16)

With all due respect to those trapped inside the Doomsday cult. No. Just no. This is one day you can't take from us. You can't shame us out of it. You can't tell us not to gather with our loved ones around a table and enjoy a meal. Thanksgiving is not yours to take. It never was. You can be miserable if you'd like, but those of us who are grateful just to wake up another day, let alone cook a meal or get invited to a meal, are grateful for the bounty. Grateful for life at all. Grateful for each other and for many. Grateful to God. Yes, we dare speak. Happy Thanksgiving. Fond Memories I always thought Thanksgiving was the great unifier. It wasn't like Christmas, where only some people celebrated. It was an everybody thing. That was how we saw it and how we were taught to understand it. Thanksgiving for most of my life was held at my grandmother's house in the San Fernando Valley, with her tattered framed letter from Bill Clinton hanging on the wall, her ceramic Siamese cats frozen in place on her glass coffee table, the plastic lining that covered her good sofa, the piano in the corner. Nobody played her gold plated flatware, the good dishes and the nice tablecloth freshly laundered and ironed. Her Thanksgiving was one of my fondest memories. She spent all day cooking the turkey, and when it was finally done, it would be presented as the greatest thing any of us had ever seen. And so it was. I'm not saying it was straight out of Norman Rockwell or anything. It was pure chaos most of the time, and often a powder keg. But somehow, on that day, we all knew how to behave. My grandma's turkey was one thing. Her pies were legendary. She would put too much cinnamon in the pumpkin pie, but that's what made it good. It was the warm house on a cold winter day, even in California, that I remember most, and the way we could smell the food cooking, even outdoors. We did not eat all day, preparing to fill our bellies until we could not breathe. We we were poor in the early days and on welfare, so Thanksgiving at my grandma's house was one way we felt normal, doing what other families did. Even those at rock bottom need a day to say thank you and give grace, no matter their circumstances in life. That's what it's for. It elevates us out of our misery. Or at least it can. We didn't say thanks or grace back then, because in my family that could spell trouble. It was all about the meal, about my grandma's infamous cooking, and all of us seated together in a cramped suburban home, talking to each other, spending time together, time we'd never get back. Over the years, Thanksgiving moved from house to house. When my grandmother was too old to host, she'd offer to bring up the turkey to my brother's house in Ojai, California. And once we waited three hours for her to arrive with the turkey, now cold, sitting in her trunk. And once she accidentally used salt instead of sugar, baking her apple pie. Before long, she couldn't make the drive and Thanksgiving for her was over. I still can't think of it without thinking of her. I think of her every time I roll out homemade pie crust using the glass of ice water she taught me to use, or the way she taught me to cut the green apples, throwing away the peels and dropping the flesh into a bowl of lemon water to keep it from browning. I think of her whenever I see a turkey coming out of the oven, and I remember how she liked her stuffing inside the bird rather than the modern way of cooking it separately in a casserole. I think of how much she loved America and its traditions and how faithful she was to all of them. My grandmother taught us what it meant to be grateful for all we had, even if it wasn't much. Thanksgiving isn't about the cost. It can be celebrated on a paper plate, in a food kitchen or in the park just as easily as it can be in my grandmother's dining room or at a restaurant. It's the idea of it, one of the few rituals we have left that we can share, at least among those of us still holding on to the fragile idea of an America at all. On their live version of America this week, Walter Kern and Matt Taibbi reported on how so many high minded outlets see it as their duty to treat Thanksgiving like a funeral for America. But here is what Thanksgiving is really about.

Conservative Cultural Commentator (8:30)

What is it about a certain kind of person in America that can't stand Thanksgiving? And why do they feel every year that rather than letting people feel grateful, they should feel terrible? In fact, they should feel guilty. In fact they should feel angry, in hate, self hatred really. I mean, why is that? What is that op about? What, what is. What is the appetite? I'll tell you why they don't want us. They don't like peace. They don't like people sitting down together. Thanksgiving is the most humane of our holidays. It probably is the best of our holidays when well celebrated. You know, in my little town, people go from their own Thanksgiving to a big civic center where they feed everybody who wants for free. And churches do that.

Podcast Co-host or Guest (9:25)

Hell, even the drug dealers give turkeys away.

Conservative Cultural Commentator (9:27)

People who find a tourist or somebody drifting through town who doesn't have friends say, come on over to my house Thanksgiving represents hospitality, peace, transcending, materialism, sharing, understanding, family, friendship, community. It's the very best of Arthur. It's a. It's not like. It's not a gorging, materialistic, present and gift based holiday. It's not a patriotic, let's shoot off fireworks that look like bombs and celebrate victory in war holiday. It's not a holiday that celebrates a personage, a famous personage, a powerful president or something like that.

Podcast Co-host or Guest (10:10)

It's not even supernatural and religious.

Conservative Cultural Commentator (10:13)

It's not even supernatural and religious unless you want to make it that way. I've spent Thanksgiving at people's houses of every description. I've been the loner guy who was from out of town in Chicago, teaching at a university and didn't know anybody who gets taken in for Thanksgiving. I've been taken in by families of all kinds on Thanksgiving in my travels. It is unity, peace, love, friendship and simplicity. And the reason that we have this meal that we've kind of standardized is because it's the one day where we all kind of do the same thing, right? The rich man eats a turkey and the poor man eats a turkey. And if you buy enough, and if you buy enough, like stamps and free stamps at my grocery store back in Montana, you get a free turkey. But in 1970s Minnesota, let me tell you a fairy story from the American past. We didn't think of Thanksgiving, strangely, as a historically accurate representation of the Pilgrims. We thought of it as an aspirational holiday in which we were a little better than each other than we were the rest of the year and a little more grateful because most Americans aren't very. Though I shouldn't even say that we want to be especially grateful. For many, it was the only time they said grace all year and actually thanked the Creator, whoever it is, for the food they eat. Rest of the time they just pile it down.

Podcast Co-host or Guest (11:51)

I'm at a loss as to what this approach to covering the holiday is about. Are we, are we supposed to start, I mean, are we really starting to think towards, in this sort of year zero direction of just, you know, post modern, let's wipe out everything and start over with some other better idea? That's, that's where we're at, I guess.

Conservative Cultural Commentator (12:16)

What is the holiday that NPR approves of? Halloween? Is that the only one? Any of them, the of the old ones? Well, yes, of the ones that we had, you know, until 2010, say.

Podcast Co-host or Guest (12:33)

Yeah, Mardi Gras, maybe. I don't know.

Conservative Cultural Commentator (12:37)

Mardi Gras. All I'm saying is this, is this is a kind of mythicide. Mythoside. It's different than genocide. It's taking every myth, every ritual, every. I mean, I don't want to be like Bill O'Reilly talking about the war on Christmas or something, but, you know, hey, spare it for the kids. Shut up. Let the 7 year olds have their divorced parents meet. Let the uncle come over, you know, let Bobby fall asleep on the couch in front of the Detroit Lions, snoring with his drink. You know, let the cousins run into the basement and play and dance around. Leave us alone. You're ruining everything in the name of a world that I can't even envision. Because if we clear away Thanksgiving and we get rid of Christmas and We stop the 4th of July and we don't have no President's Day or Columbus Day or anything else, what will we replace them with? NPR day?

Podcast Co-host or Guest (13:37)

Well, right. I guess the. The implication is that we're going to remake things.

Conservative Cultural Commentator (13:46)

Into what God awful, monstrous hybrid of feeling bad. This is the socialist holiday. Socialists.

Sasha Stone (13:59)

I guess that's why I drive six days across the country every year to see my daughter on Thanksgiving. It turns out that it means a lot to me, too. And I always want to make sure I don't miss even one. I have cooked more than my share of Thanksgiving dinners, and I hope I've created memories for my daughter. And maybe someday I'll be the grandmother to her children and the ritual will begin anew. It isn't just a day to cook or eat, but a day to say thank you for the blessings in my life, for the luck I've had, for the love I've experienced, for the beauty I can still see in this country and its people from state to state. If we can do this on this one day, maybe we will be okay. And that is why I'd like to thank all of you. It's been a hell of a ride these past five years. And thank you for the warmth and the kindness you've given me, the support, the praise, the criticism, the subscriptions, the donations and the encouragement. I don't know where I'd be without you. I hope you have a happy. Yes, Happy Thanksgiving and all the best to you. Thank you for listening to my podcast, sashastone.com. i hope you will have a wonderful holiday with your friends or your family. Or if you're not doing anything, I'll raise a glass to you and hope you're doing okay. If you like my work, you can always leave a tip or become a paid subscriber or leave a review and remember to thine own self be true.

Thanksgiving Song Performer (15:49)

I got two old busted folded chairs my neighbor threw away a 1970s card table we only used today Got an old cool long enough for three kids, maybe four Couple of chairs in the lawn out there we're gonna drag em indoors Bedroom sheets for the tablecloth Plastic forks and spoons Dinner doesn't start till 4pm but come on over at noon we'll have a good time we got good wine, save it for today but we drink it out of a plastic cup on my favorite hol Thanksgiving, you're an old familiar face all my favorite people right here in one place holding hands for a little too long when grandpa's saying grace One of my friends brought both their parents Everybody make just a little more space the turkey got overcooked we'll drown it with gravy Cranberry sauce straight out the can and a tub of macaroni and it's okay to put whipped cream Cream right on your broccoli Thanksgiving's far from perfect but it's perfect for me yeah, it's perfect for.

Sasha Stone (17:14)

Me.

Thanksgiving Song Performer (17:16)

Well, how many of y' all had ridiculous hats? Oh, my gosh, so many ridiculous hats how many of y' all ate off in your lap? How many of y' all took a quick little nap Eating off a pool table that's okay Dog in a high chair that's okay. Eating out the garage yes, you may on my favorite holiday Thanksgiving, you're an old familiar face Helping grandma cook with a smile on your face Dressing up like Pilgrim's and then put an awesome place if you're at the kids table you're at the coolest place because you're far from your parents yeah, you have total control Forget about the fancy food and eat nothing but roll Then your centerpiece is a pine cone that you found under your tree Thanksgiving far from perfect but it's perfect for me yeah, it's perfect for me.