THE TRADITIONAL THANKSGIVING DAY HALIBUT
I’ve published the same Thanksgiving Day post the last two years, so I think I should give it a rest for this year. What to post, what to post? I got nothing. Can I steal a story? What the hell, why not.
My old boss at the brokerage firm where I toiled for forty years, loved Thanksgiving. Well who doesn’t, but he REALLY loved Thanksgiving. He was a big man, over six foot and maybe 350 pounds. He loved to eat, he loved turkey.
This one year, Tommy was telling me how much he was looking forward to the big day.
“We’re going to my brother-in-laws. No cooking, no cleaning, no sprucing up the house. All we have to do is bring ourselves and a pie. What a day; football, turkey, football, pie, football, nap, no clean up, go home with left overs, have a turkey sandwich, another piece of pie, and watch some football.”
This was a man who was made for Thanksgiving. Football, turkey and pie, life was good.
The following Monday I asked him about how his favorite holiday went.
“There was football, but the rest of the day was a bust.”
“How so?”
“My brother-in-law has become a vegetarian! I knew that, but I assumed there would be a separate entre for him and turkey for everyone else…WRONG! This year I celebrated Thanksgiving Day with the traditional Thanksgiving Day Halibut. HALIBUT!! DAMN!! Did the Pilgrims order halibut flown in from Alaska on that first Thanksgiving? I don’t think so.
Football is not the same with the aroma of fish in the oven. Pie is not the same following the taste of halibut. Football is not the same after halibut. A nap does not even happen without turkey to put you in a football-pie coma. Have you ever had a sandwich of left-over halibut? It was the worst Thanksgiving ever!
There is no Thanksgiving without turkey!”
This year will be my 67th consecutive Thanksgiving celebrated with turkey. I have always enjoyed Thanksgiving Day and turkey, but never as much as I now do when I think of all those unfortunates in the world who have to suffer a feast of the traditional Thanksgiving Halibut.
I submit this year, once again, my suggestion for a traditional Thanksgiving Song:
TURKEY DAY
To the tune of Buddy Holly's "Everyday" (GIYP)
Turkey Day it’s a gettin closer
Who don’t love a tasty oven roaster
A well-cooked bird will surely come my way
A-hay, a-hay, a great day
Turkey Day, goin to be a- crazy
A great big meal, then get really lazy
A well-cooked bird will surely come my way
A-hay, a-hay, a great day
Turkey Day, Lions get their ass beat
Either way, just give me some white meat
Come that day
Right in front of my seat
Pumpkin pie for me
Turkey Day it’s a gettin closer
Who don’t love a tasty oven roaster
Turkey and gravy will surely come my way
A-hay, a-hay, a great day
Turkey Day, goin to be a- crazy
A great big meal, then get really lazy
Thanksgiving is, sure my favorite day
Oh, I luv, Thanksgiving Day
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!
oh your poor boss .
ReplyDeletei am glad for you that you will have what you really want to .
such events are blessings .
getting along with loved ones .
having chat over f favorite food and lots of other fun moves .
i wish you a very happy thanksgiving day .
your poem is great ,it shows your specific gratitude for turkey
Fish? How could anyone do that to turkey expecting people? I no longer cook, and I don't always have the traditional meal, but fish. NOT!
ReplyDeleteHave a lovely Thanksgiving with your family.
We don't have a special Thanksgiving Day but most still celebrate Christmas with turkey. I do if pushed but if fish was offered I would be in my element.
ReplyDeleteEven i, the vegan, cook turkey for everyone else. And since when are fish considered vegetables? The guy wasn't a vegetarian, he was a pescatarian, a person who only eats fish and plants.
ReplyDeleteIt is a shame to mess with tradition. I do think I could eat halibut any day of the year though.
ReplyDeleteIt is a shame to mess with tradition but it is likely that the Pilgrims served some fish. For sure they didn't have a big fat Butterball on the table.
We do turkey at Christmas in Australia, and everyone looks forward to it, because, really, when else ever, do you eat turkey? Halibut is just not the same.
ReplyDeleteHappy Thanksgiving.
ReplyDeleteHow do you stuff a halibut?
ReplyDelete(And yeah, what Mimi said. . .)
I love fish as much as anybody (probably more than most). But. . . not on Thanksgiving! Just fill me up with tryptophan, and let me sleep it off . .
I hate it when folks force their way of eating down everyone's throat. I'm just saying. He should have been told what was for dinner. That way he could have eaten at home. Just saying.
ReplyDeleteLove the song.
Have a fabulous day and a very happy Thanksgiving. ☺
I am apparently the ONLY turkey lover in our family. We are going to Nameless' house tomorrow & she is not cooking turkey. The only way I am permitting this is if Bud takes me out for turkey tonight, but it will not be the same. It's a good thing I usually eat only about half of a restaurant meal so I can have some leftovers tomorrow!!
ReplyDeleteLol....well, I'd welcome the change, but I live with a bunch of traditionalists.
ReplyDeleteI confess...I sang along There are two days for which you simply MUST have turkey...Thanksgiving and Christmas.
ReplyDeleteI've had all manner of things for t'giving dinner....elk, deer, caribou and moose roasts. King salmon once, which was excellent. It wasen't until recent years, when people started brining turkey, have I thought it palatable.
ReplyDeleteWe have duck, traditionally. In Oregon, growning up, the family splurged on a big rib roast.
Tradition, whatever it is, seems to me to be the message for thanksgiving......that despite changes some things can remain the same. We can come together, if only for one day.
Cheers, and happy t'giving.
Mike
Your boss was right about one thing. Being the guest is the way Thanksgiving should be spent. I have managed that most of my life. Fish for Thanksgiving?? Mercy--that's as bad as Tofurky.
ReplyDeleteHave a great Thanksgiving.
It just wouldn't be Thanksgiving without turkey. Happy Thanksgiving to you and Mrs. C.
ReplyDeleteOne of my bosses is a vegetarian. I asked him today if he made an exception on Thanksgiving. He said he might, but wasn't sure. He was looking forward to all the yummy side dishes.
ReplyDeleteI don't eat much meat (my husband calls me the "semi-vegetarian"), but on Thanksgiving, I gotta have my turkey.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!
Halibut???? If he'd tried that down here, we would have fed him to the hogs :)
ReplyDeleteTurkey Day without turkey ain't right. I don't care who you are. if he's a vegan, he can celebrate in Las Vegas.
Since I do the cooking, I don't have to worry about getting a damn halibut. It is TURKEY, always and forevermore. Love the song, by the way. Happy Thanksgiving, Joe!
ReplyDeleteThere oughta be a law! No halibut for Thanksgiving dinner! You can't even get a turducken out of that! What would it be, a halsalapia?
ReplyDeleteLove the song. I'm not a fan of turkey, but I do think Halibut is a bit too far on the wrong side. Besides, if he's vegetarian, doesn't that mean no fish?
ReplyDeleteI have always referred to people who will not eat meat as vegetarians. My son for years called himself a vegetarian and he ate fish. I've always thought it was a vegan who would not eat meat, fish or their by-products, but I don't know. Let's just say this person would not eat meat but would eat fish.
DeleteWe have over the years adapted an "eat what you want" on Thanksgiving type of philosophy. We want steak, so be it. We want turkey, again so be it. We want salmon, you get the picture. But to be expecting something and then getting another thing would be hared to adapt to. The good thing is at least there was food to eat, right?
ReplyDeleteHappy Thanksgiving!
betty