Thankful, Unthankful, Stuffing my Face

You have to love 16 year olds. They really make me laugh. One of the greatest kids I teach came in today and announced that he couldn't wait for Thanksgiving. He said with completely honesty, "I can't wait till Thanksgiving so I can stuff my face and sleep." In fact, isn't that what we all look forward to? But, could any adult be that serious? We may sit at the dinner table and think those same thoughts as we sneak another piece of pumpkin pie or whisper politely if we could have a "small sliver of each." We say the word "small" to convince ourselves and everyone else at the table that we are eating less than them, when in fact, we are really trying to explain why we want two pieces of pie. This kid probably proclaims unapologetically at the table that he wants every type of pie, and people probably smile and admire his honesty and lack of guilt. Sure, Thanksgiving is about family and giving thanks for the things that we do have (and somewhat overlooking for a day the things that we don't), but let's be honest...We all love Thanksgiving because we can eat and eat and eat without anyone noticing and blame all of our weight gain later on "the holidays," as if two days out of a year can make any person gain ten pounds. But, we all do it, and people nod their heads in agreement. "I know," they say. "It's so hard." But, not this kid. This kid disagrees. He tells the truth about turkey day- it's all about the pie.