Giving Thanks for...

Happy Thanksgiving.

Whereas Thanksgiving (Erntedankfest) in Germany is more a celebration where the giving thanks for the harvest is done during a church service on the first Sunday in October (not a very fancy affair), the American version of the festival has evolved into a MUCH BIGGER event. Of course the focus is supposedly still on giving thanks for things we have been blessed with, but it's also a time for family reunion, TONS of food and.... football. (Surprise!) As well as the shopping frenzy on the Day after Thanksgiving also known as Black Friday and the official kick-off for the Christmas season.

I want to share what I am thankful for:

Today, I want to give thanks for my family and friends, to the fact that I always feel loved and supported by them, even though I don't see a lot of them very often. I want to give thanks for meeting Terry and that he sticks with me through all the ups and downs that life has thrown at us in the last couple of years. Thanks for a healthy body and mind. And last but not least, thanks for having a job in a rocky economy.

Here are some funny quotes that highlight the importance of food and football for Thanksgiving:

An optimist is a person who starts a new diet on Thanksgiving Day.
~Irv Kupcinet

Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are
consumed in twelve minutes. Half-times take twelve minutes. This is
not coincidence. ~Erma Bombeck

It has been an unchallengeable American doctrine that cranberry sauce, a
pink goo with overtones of sugared tomatoes, is a delectable necessity of the
Thanksgiving board and that turkey is uneatable without it. ~Alistair
Cooke

On Thanksgiving Day, all over America, families sit down to dinner at the
same moment - halftime. ~Author Unknown

Thanksgiving is America's national chow-down feast, the one occasion each
year when gluttony becomes a patriotic duty. ~Michael Dresser

Coexistence: what the farmer does with the turkey - until
Thanksgiving. ~Mike Connolly

Thanksgiving, man. Not a good day to be my pants. ~Kevin
James

The funny thing about Thanksgiving, or any huge meal, is that you spend 12
hours shopping for it and then chopping and cooking and braising and
blanching. Then it takes 20 minutes to eat it and everybody sort of sits
around in a food coma, and then it takes four hours to clean it up. ~Ted
Allen

The thing I'm most thankful for right now is elastic waistbands.
~Author Unknown

I love Thanksgiving turkey. It's the only time in Los Angeles that
you see natural breasts. ~Arnold Schwarzenegger

All these quotes are taken from one website (this one) and they also have some more sincere and somber quotes, if you are looking for those! ;-)

Have a happy Thanksgiving Day with your family and friends, enjoy the food and the football and GIVE THANKS!