Boycotting Thanksgiving – Gratitude and the Freedom to Choose

posted 24th November 2011    Written by: Dusti    CATEGORY: All Posts, Dusti, Family, Season 5

My family likes to ruin holidays. No really. They create drama of epic proportions.

This time last year, my bigot of an uncle had a real gem to share. Over pumpkin pie, he was discussing how he and his Army buddies used to beat gay kids with socks full of padlocks – because soap only left bruises and didn’t break bones.

Yeah. Can you tell my family is a generation out of the trailer park? Of course, he wasn’t aware his niece, *ahem* moi, was open about her bisexuality. I’ll leave the falling out of the evening to your imagination.

This year, I am boycotting my family and their tradition of drama-making in the name of gratitude for the freedom to choose.

In almost everything we do, we have a choice. We choose how we respond to what’s around us. We choose tomorrow based on actions we make today. We can choose to stay the same or change. We can choose happiness or apathy.

They say you can’t choose your family, but I disagree. Family is who you spend your time with. They are the wonderful community of people who you can trust. They are who you don’t mind sharing the last piece of apple pie with.

For me, that’s my sweet little girl – who is with her dad this Thanksgiving – and that handsome guy I live with. No turkey for us – we’re making something delicious and simple, because I’d rather spend the extra time making pies. (I make seriously gorgeous pies, and I’ve got limited energy to expend. Best to put it where it counts.)

I’m going to take some time and reassess my choices this year. How have I chosen well, and how could I choose better? Could I be in better alignment with my values? It’s all on the table. The idea is to give thanks I can choose.

And, I’ve got a feeling this Thanksgiving will have amazeballs written all over it when it’s over.

I’m not sure if there are other countries with similar traditions, but I think it’s pretty cool we have a holiday based on gratitude.

Could you ask for a better reason to stop what you are doing – and thank the universe for this moment, this breath? How beautiful that we have an opportunity to step back from our daily lives and just be grateful we have the right to choose who we are and how we live?

Happy Thanksgiving, Stratejoy Tribe. May your holiday be full of joy and chock full of love. (And pie. Good lord, enjoy lots of pie – and don’t feel guilty for any of it! You can choose better tomorrow.)

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