Exit Stage Left

I don't like holidays. Particularly Thanksgiving, but Christmas is a close second. I appreciate the sentiments of these "holidays" but the hype, the deluge of food, the family... it's all just overwhelming and ultimately becomes a major let down.

When I was a child I was incorrigibly negative and confrontation. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I heard "If you can't say anything nice..." A couple years ago my sister and I got into a wicked fight at Thanksgiving dinner and in the heat of the moment I said, "I'm never spending Thanksgiving with you ever again." At the time it was an emotional statement that I may not have meant, but when the next year rolled around the inevitable family drama was enough to keep me away. I kept hearing my mom's voice, "if you can't say anything nice..." so I decided to "not say anything at all" and I stayed home.

I've now successfully avoided family drama at Thanksgiving for three years running. I'm quite content to spend Thanksgiving day clearing out the Tivo and eating Dorito's directly from the bag, but when you tell people this is what you're doing they tend to pity you. I must've gotten no less than half a dozen invitations to dinner/drinking binges, and I turned them all down (admittedly with a sense of guilt). It's not that I don't have a place to go, it's that I choose to do something different. My decision to spend my holiday differently than others doesn't mean that the sentiment of Thanksgiving is lost on me, however. I am thankful for my family, my friends and my freedom; I love them all, but I think they'll be more thankful for me if I stay away for the celebrations.