Who spent every spare minute all month cleaning the house? Who went shopping on the way home from work to get all of the holiday fixings? Who made sure all the dishes were clean and ready to put on the table? Who stayed up late baking pies and preparing side dishes? Who got up at four AM to put the turkey in the oven? Who blended, pureed, peeled, mashed and otherwise formed food into edible shape? Who managed to get everything on the table at the same time? Who jumped up to refill dishes? Who cleaned off the table, filled the dishwasher, washed the pots and pans? Who then jumped up and started serving pie when someone woke up and discovered they were hungry again?
Who complained about the inconvenience of having relatives over again? Who complained about the bills for all this food? Who watched a late movie on TV and then went to bed? Who slept in because it was a holiday? Who 'helped' by snitching pickles and asking when dinner would be ready? Who groaned they were too full to move, plopped down in a recliner and watched football all afternoon?
If the original Thanksgiving was about everyone coming together to help each other and give thanks then something has gone really wrong over the years. In the average household today the only thing the man is going to help with is the eating. Even though statistics show that approximately 70 percent of women work outside the home, they are still expected to be the one to do all of the grocery shopping, cooking, and cleaning up. Men may earn more but rarely do they bring home the turkey anymore (unless he's a hunter and shot a wild one, in which case you will probably get to pick it and clean it).
It had to be a man that decided that Thanksgiving Day (and Christmas, New Years, and every Sunday) was a good time to have football games on TV. Family that you only see twice a year comes to dinner and then spends the rest of the day grunting at each other in front of the television. No one talks to each other anymore.
I remember holiday dinners when I was little. The women did do all of the kitchen work but at least they weren't holding down full time jobs too. The men may not have washed dishes but they did visit with each other and the women could join them when the kitchen work was done.
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