Thanksgiving. A day to give thanks and eat too much, maybe watch some football, and be with family. But, about that last part. If you have a mixed-politics family, you may have noticed that there was just a big election. You may, in fact, have just spent the day with ones you love but don't agree with ... and the fact that their political team had a big win a couple weeks ago probably looms a little larger than any football disagreements that may have cropped up during the day.
Take those big disagreements about big things, world-shaping things that get to the base of what we believe in, and combine them with the stressful circumstances of "this is a holiday and you will enjoy it, dammit" and "let's get five times as many people as usual into this house and then cook a meal much bigger than any of us cook on a regular basis." They might be your family whom you love, but for real? When you're dodging each other fighting for the last burner and nearly getting stabbed when someone turns from the counter to the sink too quickly? Tempers will be on edge even before you get to immigration and Obamacare and Republican obstruction.
Or was your Thanksgiving cut short or cancelled by someone you wanted to celebrate with having to work early on Black Friday, or even on Thanksgiving itself? (Assuming that if you yourself are working those hours, you're not reading this post.)
So what are your frustrations tonight? What, despite your immense gratitude for all the good things in your life, just drove you up a wall today? Was it your conservative relatives? The lumpy gravy? The football on the television while you were trying to have quality family time? The fact that the football game on the television didn't come out the way you wanted?
None of these things have to mean that you aren't thankful for all the good things in your life, but having things to be thankful for doesn't obliterate the pressure-cooker irritations of the holidays. Surely there's something—let it fly.