Post Thanksgiving Blues LIVINGSTON, November 24, 2007 - On Thursday morning I woke up in jubilant mood.  I came downstairs and kissed my wife good morning and put on a pot of coffee.  The night before I meticulously seasoned a turkey and carefully covered it and placed it in the refrigerator.

The smell of the seasoning would come into the air everytime someone opened the fridge.  My wife also had prepared bread and other trimmings the night before.  In addition there was a pumpkin and pecan pie prepared and waiting.  I sat down at the kitchen table and was chatting with my wife and waiting for the kids to get up.  The house was clean and everything was in place for a day of family, feasting, and football.

Eventually the kids got up, and just as planned, we went outside, fired up the coals, and cooked our turkey.  It was cold outside (cold for East Texas), and cooking the turkey outside was just the thing me and my 17 year old son enjoyed.  We put the turkey on a stick that was sticking out of the ground to suspend the bird in the air, we then put a trash can (unused) inverted over the turkey and put the coals on top of and around the bottom edges of the trash can.  The turkey cooked for 1 ½ hours.  Cooking outside is a great father son bonding experience.  When it was done, I placed the turkey on the table and the aroma of succulent, hot, fresh food filled the air.  The family was starving and we dug in after I carved the turkey.  We feasted on the turkey and potatoes and pea salad etc.  We basked in eachother’s company and enjoyed the blessings we have in our warm house.  Football was on TV, pets were inside, the fireplace was going.  As usual, I moved from the table to the sofa to watch football on TV.  Before I knew it, I found myself dozing off to sleep.  Later that night the family and I went to Wal-Mart to get a few things, when we came back we stood around in kitchen and picked on the turkey and drank more coffee.  We stayed up late into the night talking and just not having any worries and just enjoying the time to reflect on our blessings and relatively care-free life we live.  Eventually I went to bed.

The next morning I woke up and as always, there was my wife, up first and as usual working on something.  But this morning, there was no anticipation of the fun things to come.  There was cold, turkey remains sitting in the oven, and I felt groggy.  My mind didn’t feel so sharp.  After I brushed my teeth and washed my face I plopped down on the couch and just kind of laid there staring into space.  When the kids woke up they exhibited the same demeanor.  I eventually got off the couch, picked on the turkey, had some coffee and stepped outside.  There was the mess from the day before laying there in the front yard having been rained on throughout the night.  The mess in the front yard sort of reflected the way I felt.  I had no alcohol the day before, but I realized that I was suffering from Thanksgiving hangover.  I’m not sure exactly how to deal with Thanksgiving hangover or how to make it go away.  Perhaps I should’ve planned the day before to get up early and work in the yard the day after Thanksgiving.  The feeling of accomplishing something might help me seamlessly pass from the BIG DAY to the next day without that feeling of a hangover.  The good news is, that the holiday season has just begun.  There’s more big days to come, and on the next one, I’m going to make a plan to help me deal with the hangover feeling so that I may not have it again.

by Willie Openshaw