Dear Kid,

On Thanksgiving, we take a moment to focus, to appreciate all that is important. To reflect on the important things in life. To honor priorities. In short, to watch football.

There are a lot of football games on Thanksgiving weekend.

In an attempt to give the holiday its due, your father tried to watch all of them.

Never mind that we don’t have 437 TVs. Never mind that we don’t get all 46 billion channels. Dad flipped channels like it was his job.

Which is disconcerting for someone like me.

I generally watch football While Doing Other Things. Like writing to you. I glance up, make sure the players are doing what they’re supposed to do, and go back to whatever else I’m focused on. I think I glance up frequently enough that I don’t miss too much (#InstantReplayRules).

It’s a technique that works brilliantly under normal conditions.

This Thanksgiving, “normal conditions” were nowhere in sight.

I’m used to every now and then getting so engrossed in what I’m doing that I miss a great play or – occasionally – a scoring play, and I look up to find that there has been a major shift in the game.

I am not used to every now and then glancing up to see that the uniforms have changed.

At first I thought the color on the TV went all wonky.

Then I realized The Great Channel Flip had commenced. I commented to Dad that normal people watch one game at a time. Apparently my comment was not worthy of a response, although I’m pretty sure there was an implied withering look.

The upshot is that there was a lot of football, but I have no idea what happened in any of it.

Presumably some teams won.

I’m sure you know more about it than I do.

Love, Mom

Dear Kid,

Love, Mom

Dear Kid,

Recipe for Thanksgiving

1 turkey

1/2 gallon of gravy; zero lumps

1 dish of sweet potatoes

1 dish of mashed potatoes

Corn soufflé

Green beans with almonds

Roasted Brussel sprouts

3 kinds of cranberry sauce

Sage stuffing

4,872 mini pumpkin muffins

Rolls. Lots and lots of rolls

15 football games

1 Thanksgiving Day parade

2 dogs

4 pies

17 friends

Water with ice

Adult beverages in appropriate amounts

1 surprise guest

2 naps

Coffee

Two dogs and two people taking naps

Hearts full of thanks and gratitude

What’s your recipe?

Love, Mom

Dear Kid,

Sometimes it’s easy to be thankful. Like when it’s raining and someone offers to get the car and drive over to pick you up so you don’t have to walk through the parking lot brand new lake. Or when you walk into a warm room on a freezing cold day. Or when someone holds the elevator for you when you’re late for an appointment.

Sometimes it’s a lot harder. Like when someone does something you expected them to do. Or when people leave you alone on a day you really need to be left alone. Or don’t leave you alone on a day you say you want to be left alone but really need company.

It’s generally easier to be thankful for the here-and-now. After all, you’re in the here-and-now. (If we’re being literal, you’re at least in the “now.”)

It’s generally a lot harder to be thankful for the things that happened a while ago or that happen in the background. Like being healthy. And having a place to live.

Fortunately, we have Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is a time to remember the big and little things we have to be thankful for. It’s time to think about the things we’ve done for people and that people have done for us.

What are you thankful for?

Love, Mom

Dear Kid,

Once upon a time, the world came to its senses and realized that smoking cigarettes was not cool.

Many, many efforts were made to get people to stop smoking (most of which didn’t work all that well) when someone got the bright idea to teach little kids that Smoking Was Bad. This had the dual impact of getting fewer kids to start smoking and turning a gaggle of elementary school children into warriors against cigarettes.

Some of the warriors (not naming names but me) piled up literature by the ton and hauled it dutifully to any adult (and by “adult” I mean my grandma) who would listen to the horrors and devastation caused by smoking as explained by a kindergartner.

Eventually (and by “eventually” I mean 1977), the American Cancer Society created the Great American Smokeout, a day dedicated to encouraging people to stop smoking. While their enthusiasm had nothing on me, age 5, they were able to reach far more people. Since not everyone got the message at first, they repeated the event a year later. And a year after that. And here we are 40 years later and we’re still encouraging people to STOP SMOKING!!! Because 36.5 million Americans still smoke cigarettes.

That is a lot of people and a lot cigarettes. Which means Big Tobacco makes money and oncologists get to tell people their lungs look like tar pits.

NOTE: There is no safe way to deal with tobacco. Hookah, pipes, cigars, chewing tobacco—you name it, they’re all carcinogenic.

If you know someone who smokes (and since there are 36.5 million people in the US who smoke, chances are you know at least one), remind them you care about their health and today is a great day to try cutting back on cigarettes.

Because friends help friends quit.

Love, Mom

Dear Kid,

To recap the weekend.

The Bengals. Painful. Just painful to watch. In case you missed it (be thankful), there was fighting—as in it looked like a hockey game broke out on the field (no, I don’t think it looked like mixed martial arts). People were ejected. Commentators had explosive coronaries.

Speaking of painful to watch, I was on TV (I do not like to be in front of cameras). David (from La Terza Coffee) and I got up at (insert ungodly hour of the morning) and went down to WLWT to talk about the Cincinnati Coffee Festival. Dad said we were awesome, so I’m going with that. Of course, we were followed by puppies (seriously—tiny balls of fur were showing off their adorableness before their adoption event) and it’s pretty much impossible to compete with puppies.

I did not adopt one. But it was a struggle.

I’m going to be on TV again today on a different channel with a different coffee vendor. Hopefully no puppies and no struggling to walk away without taking one home.

Equally as difficult was sleeping. There was a storm. Complete with warnings (Flash Flood Warning, Severe Thunderstorm Warning, Tornado Warning, Unhappy Puppy Being Walked in the Rain Warning—you name it, we were warned).

On the plus side, it was clock changing weekend. I love having an extra hour. I usually spend it doing something wildly self-indulgent. This year, I spent it watching the Bengals implode. That was not self-indulgent. It was more ex-dulgent.

Also on the plus side: snoring Puppy. It is one of the most wonderful sounds in the world. And since he snored on and off all day, it was more than enough to satisfy my extra hour happiness quota.

Hope you enjoyed your extra hour.

Love, Mom