Good Grief…It’s Another Holiday Season
Dr. Eric Overholtzer
The other evening I had the good fortune of watching A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving for the first time in many, many years with a new friend of mine, 2 1/2 half year old Beatrix (the granddaughter of my dear fiends). And it was a delight!
If you don’t recall the premise of this 1973 animated special, it is that Peppermint Patty invites herself and her friends over to Charlie Brown’s house for a really big Turkey party. However, Charlie Brown is supposed to go to his grandmother’s house for the holiday AND he doesn’t know how to cook.
Still, they pull chairs around the ping-pong table and gather for a meal of lovingly prepared buttered toast, popcorn, pretzel sticks and ice cream sundaes—a true feast for any child. That is for any child … other than Peppermint Patty, who gets mad for a subpar Thanksgiving meal.
Charlie Brown feels bad and laments, “I don’t feel bad for myself, I just feel bad because I ruined everyone’s Thanksgiving.”
Fortunately, Marcie represents a soft-spoken voice of reason to Peppermint Patty as she reminds us that,
“Thanksgiving is more than eating. You heard what Linus was saying out there. Those early Pilgrims were thankful for what happened to them, and we should be thankful, too. We should just be thankful for being together. I think that’s what they mean by ‘Thanksgiving,’ Charlie Brown.”
As we approach this Thanksgiving and yet another holiday season, it is an ongoing opportunity to reflect on all that we are grateful for—and I mean all of it. Can we find the good in and the gratitude for whatever is currently being served on the table of our lives? And are we willing to love and forgive everyone seated at the table by our side? And most importantly, are we willing to acknowledge that our place at the table is a valued and deserving spot at the table. This is the season to practice love, forgiveness, and compassion to ourselves and others as we pull up a chair to any table.
I am grateful for so much…. Please pass the pretzels!!!
