Our Man in Arlington

While it is a hard choice to make, Thanksgiving gets the nod as my favorite holiday. Don't get me wrong. I love holidays. Christmas is great fun, and I love getting presents. But it has become so exhausting and involved. I'm usually glad when it is over, and I can just rest for a few days.

New Year's Eve and New Year's Day itself are just fine and we always celebrate them with old friends, but I find they come too soon after Christmas to get totally wound up with enthusiasm. Besides, New Year's Day is a reminder that another year has passed. I find that mildly depressing since I don't have that many more left.

Easter is gorgeous and a welcome harbinger of spring. But it is often just a tad too gorgeous - with all the flashy clothes and beautiful flowers, and how many times do we have to hear the Easter section of the Messiah?

And so with all the other holidays, secular or religious (4th of July or Passover) light hearted (Valentines Day or Mardi Gras) or deadly serious (Ash Wednesday-largely because many are nursing major excesses).

Thanksgiving is the least pretentious and most uncomplicated of the lot. What you see is what you get: lots of food, great camaraderie with friends and family, and a quiet appreciation of the fact that we live in a free and prosperous country. It is one day when we can honestly reflect on the positive values of America and slip the negative stuff under the rug.

We have five children, four who are married and all of whom live in the area. We are long past the time when we can cram all the children, grandchildren, in-laws and stray friends into our apartment for a day of eating and watching football on the TV. So early on Thanksgiving Day we will began our trek.

We start at noon in a Vienna country club dining room with our daughter, son-in-law, son, his friend, and two wonderful grandchildren. Jennifer has decided that Thanksgiving is much more fun for her if she doesn't have to cook, and there is a point in that. Then on to another feast in Annandale, where we plan to be very abstemious, with our son, his wife, the other in-laws, and a wonderful grandchild! John has a great backyard, and we hope the weather will be good enough to enjoy it.

Our next stop will be for a five-o'clock dinner in Great Falls with yet another daughter, son-in law, another set of in-laws in from New Jersey, and two wonderful grandchildren! Assuming that we have carefully nibbled at our previous stops (good luck!), we will be ready to feast once again. Once that food orgy comes to end, we will wend our way back to Arlington for dessert and after-dinner drinks with our daughter, yet another son-in-law, his parents from far away Annandale, and of course, two wonderful grandchildren. Then back to Virginia Square to flop into our bed and hope it doesn't break.

Now this may sound like a little too much celebrating for one day. The main thing we will bring home after a long day is a wonderful sense of gratitude that we are able to enjoy our family and friends with good food and drink. I hope that is the way you feel, too. That is what Thanksgiving is all about.