Homework #18: Health, Illness and Feasting

This thanksgiving was small for my family. We used to have a big meal with over 15 people in our apartment. Some were family members and others were just friends from the neighborhood. It was big and loud. This year however, we had just my family of four and my friend's family of three. Although it wasn't as big as it used to be, my mom still went all out with the cooking. She made two types of each side dish including stuffing (sausage and veggie), cranberry relish (sweet and tart), and potatoes (sweet and finger-link). The food was fantastic and we sat around for at least three hours just talking and eating. By the end of the night everyone was full. My friend's dad made Tiramisu which was delicious. Afterwards we sat, watched football and listened to the guys discuss the politics behind all of it.

In my experience of this holiday, the anti-body practices are outweighed by the bodily practices such as eating enormous amounts of food and sitting on the couch watching TV. Although part of it involves the electricity of TV, most of it consists of sitting, eating, drinking, and talking. For four hours, we ate and talked which dominated most of the day. The other part was spent cleaning and cooking for this occasion.

Although the company was small, we were supposed to have another couple guests. My friend Moise's dad is currently in the hospital. He had a mild stroke and came down with pneumonia. He is currently undergoing heavy amounts of physical therapy because one of his illnesses caused him the ability to swallow. Because of this unfortunate incident, we decided to invite Moise and his mother to join us for thanksgiving so they didn't have to cook or clean. However, they decided to spend it with family. In the end, we all suffered from health issues this holiday. Maybe not as severe as Moise's dad's, but as I looked around, most of the food we were eating was starch and fat. The healthiest thing on the table were the fried Brussels sprouts. It certainly says something about our culture when the whole country has an entire day dedicated to eating.