Something to chew on this Thanksgiving

It’s been a week now. Have you recovered from election hangover? Not the one from whatever celebratory or loss-numbing beverage you imbibed, but the emotional hangover. It was a long, strange trip and a lot of us were left emotionally scarred from the election season, regardless of who we supported.

But it’s behind us now, right? It’s time to focus on something far less emotional: Thanksgiving.

What? It can’t be Thanksgiving, I still have flowers blooming in my yard and haven’t planted any daffodil bulbs, yet!

It can’t be Thanksgiving, I haven’t lost the Baseball/Halloween/Election-poor-choice eating weight!

It can’t be Thanksgiving…wasn’t it JUST Thanksgiving? Or maybe that was the Fourth of July or Labor Day…some holiday that seems far too close in the rearview mirror for Thanksgiving to be right ahead of us.

When my mother-in-law first started making plans for the holiday, all I heard was, “Susan, you don’t have to host this year.” The actual date still seemed so far off it didn’t register until I looked at the calendar the next day and uttered a more colorful version of, “Oh my dear stars, Thanksgiving is in two and a half weeks.”

Suddenly “Susan, you don’t have to host this year” took on an even more jubilant feeling.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind hosting. Not to brag (totally to brag) I’ve done so many it’s almost rote. It helps that I like cooking and I’ve streamlined the whole thing by sticking to a few basic rules.

Susan’s Thanksgiving hosting rules:

1) Focus on tradition: Once you find a menu that works for your family, don’t mess with it. While you’re at it, don’t mess with the recipes, either. If Grandma used half and half in her mashed potatoes and you slip in chicken broth and a block of cream cheese, someone will say, “These don’t taste right.”

2) Delegate, delegate, delegate even if it only means delegating to the bakery and deli of your grocery store.

3) Remind the family, often, that just because you make it look easy, that doesn’t mean it is easy.

4) I should whisper this one, come close: Don’t tell my family but even if it’s easy do NOT let them know it is.

I’m not inflexible with these rules. I’ve added foods we’ve never tried (but never, ever take any winners away); I smile and make room for the ham that an aunt, who shall remain unnamed, will bring although she was assigned only dinner rolls. And this year, although I am not hosting, I’m going to add one more rule.

Maybe “rule” is too strict: how about something to chew in on in a figurative sense?

Even if the hardest thing you do is finding a pair of pants suitable for a second serving of pie, remember that we have all have experienced some sort of election hangover. Election Day may behind us, but not everything about it is.

For each different personality sitting around your table or sprawled out on your couches, there was a different election season experience. Some are happy and anxious for the next step; some are still angry; some aren’t ready to talk about it yet (or sick of talking about it.)

Half of all eligible voters didn’t even vote and that can’t be emotion free.

It hasn’t even been a month — a long time to some, a short time to others but dictating how someone should feel at any point is never a good plan.

Thanksgiving is a far less emotional subject than politics, but because of recent events, this year anything that brings our families together can be a time when are families are torn apart.

Celebrate wisely.

This story was originally published November 16, 2016 at 7:44 PM with the headline "Something to chew on this Thanksgiving."