by Effie Moore Salem

Created on: October 16, 2009   Last Updated: July 28, 2010

Seafood, vegetarian dishes, and special likes and dislikes will personalize Thanksgiving dinner. Celebrate according to each family's likes and dislikes, whims, interests and location. These combine to make Thanksgiving, a day honoring the survival of the first winter of the Pilgrims settling Massachusetts, a very American holiday. By its very nature it is individual to each celebrant and yet collective in value to the whole country. Each family sets the tone for their celebration and if they so choose, they ignore it completely and settle for a burger at MacDonald's. That in itself speaks well for the holiday and for freedom of choice. It was this principle that built this country.

Families have their special foods that they serve for special occasions and certainly Thanksgiving is one of these. Depending on the guest and their likes and dislikes a conglomeration of their favorites would be a great mix and match festive dinner. Better still have each guest bring their own favorite food and share. This will be even better with multicultural guests.

Suppose you have from your local college stranded students from Germany, Lebanon, Italy, India, Mexico, and China. What an array of international foods this would present! Chicken fried rice with some of that hot spicy from Mexico and India, a pasta dish from Italy, lentils Middle Eastern style, and to top that off, kraut from Germany.

Affordability is a main consideration for this upcoming Thanksgiving Day (2009). Many are out of work and will not be dining as lavishly as before. Yet they will do as well and will be thankful they have food at all. How traditional can you get? That is the whole purpose of the day, being thankful for the next meal. It seems no matter what predicament we find ourselves in when planning our Thanksgiving feast; it somehow harks back to that first bleak feast.

Whims have their place in this celebration. Possibly you have been thinking of new creative ways of preparing food and you have been practicing. Health care and wellness has taken your thinking and you are seeing how many ways you can prepare the traditional feast with less fat, less salt, and less sugar. You have decided to bake your potatoes instead of mashing them and in lieu of that sweet and unhealthy sweet potato casserole, you bake the sweet potatoes. These and other ways of amending the usual way of cooking for this big day will not only be healthier, but easier.

Interests and where you live and what is available is the sensible way of selecting food for the holidays. If you garden and have available pumpkins, squash and sweet potatoes and all kinds of already prepared pickles, beets, beans, and other things from your past garden, you know what will be on your table. Be original and select what is easy to prepare and dedicate the rest of your time enjoying the day and your guests. It's all up to you. My only suggestion is to be thankful and

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