The following is a video from my YouTube channel, Jack’s World. It’s just a brief message of thanks for all those who have helped my channel grow so much over the past year-and-a-half, as well as a personal story to help get everyone in the Thanksgiving spirit. Enjoy!
Tag Archives: Thanksgiving feast
Holiday Memories: A Cherished Thanksgiving Memory
As you get older, you come to treasure certain memories more than most. It’s a natural thing. If you’ve conducted yourself a certain way, it can be a beautiful thing. It’s not always a pleasant process, especially as you encounter major life challenges and inevitable hardships. That doesn’t make it any less meaningful.
The holidays are a time during which we form many such memories. I certainly have. Some of my most cherished memories occurred over the holidays. Some were on Christmas and some were on Thanksgiving. This year, with so many friends and family still isolated due to the pandemic, I find myself contemplating those memories more than usual.
I doubt I’m alone. There’s just no getting around it. For Thanksgiving, especially, we just can’t do things the way we normally do in 2020. That’s just the reality of a deadly pandemic. We can’t travel, get together, or casually share used forks. It’s sad and frustrating, but that’s just the way things have to be for this year.
For me and my family, that’s especially difficult. That’s because every year, my parents make it a point to make their house, the same one I grew up in, the epicenter of all things Thanksgiving. Every year, family from all over traveled to our part of the country to get together, have a giant meal, and just enjoy each other’s company.
These gatherings were often the biggest family gatherings of the year. It wasn’t unusual for there to be at least 20 people crammed into that house. It was big and rowdy, but we all loved it. I certainly did. We had so much fun, sharing in the joys of food, family, and football. I’m really going to miss that this year.
Rather than dwell on that, though, I’d like to share a quick personal story that I hope will get others through this pandemic-hit holiday. It just happens to be one of my favorite Thanksgiving memories of all time and one that perfectly defines what makes my family so awesome.
This particular memory unfolded when I was fairly young. I was still in elementary school at the time and much of my extended family wasn’t that much older. Once again, my parents made their house the central focus of Thanksgiving festivities and we attracted quite a crowd. I remember aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends joining in, some of which I hadn’t seen in years.
In addition to the usual gathering and feasting, the weather this year was just perfect. It was unusually warm for late November. A number of cousins and friends wore shorts and a T-shirt. It was just that nice out. As a result, we hung around outside a lot more than usual. It’s here where this Thanksgiving memory really takes hold.
Shortly after we ate, a bunch of cousins and extended family gathered in the backyard and started throwing around a football, as many are inclined to do on Thanksgiving. It started as a simple game of catch between a few cousins. It then evolved into a full-fledged game, complete with route running, elaborate plays, and touchdown dances.
We didn’t plan it.
We didn’t keep score.
We didn’t even set clear rules and time limits.
We all just came together as friends and family to play a football game in the backyard. It felt so natural and organic. It was a perfect manifestation of everything we loved about Thanksgiving get-togethers.
If that weren’t memorable enough, some clouds rolled in near sunset and it started raining suddenly. However, not one person in the backyard ran inside. If anything, it just made everyone more excited to play. The game kept going. We kept running around, tackling each other, and just had an all-around great time.
Being a kid with a belly full of Thanksgiving dinner, I honestly didn’t want it to end. I wanted to just hang out back there and play football until the sun went down. Even as some friends and family had to leave, we kept going for as long as we could. When it finally ended, I knew on some levels that this had been a special Thanksgiving.
Time has only proven that sentiment right. To date, it’s one of my most cherished Thanksgiving memories. I’ll likely cherish it even more as I endure a Thanksgiving without that big family gathering I’ve come to love and appreciate. I know many in my family feel the same way.
Thanksgiving this year may be disappointing in its scope, but I would encourage them and everyone who shares that feeling to think back to those memories. More importantly, use them as inspiration, as well as motivation, to make Thanksgiving in 2021 even more special.
I hope this little story has boosted your holiday spirits. I also hope everyone finds a way to enjoy Thanksgiving this year, however tempered it might be. The holidays are here. Let’s not allow a pandemic to dampen our spirits.
Filed under Jack Fisher's Insights, real stories, Uplifting Stories
Some (Cringy) Thanksgiving Incidents To Get You Through Thanksgiving 2020
Let’s not lie to ourselves. Thanksgiving is going to be very different this year. Pretty much everything has had to be different this year, thanks to a once-in-a-century pandemic. There’s just no way around it. All we can do is adapt and endure.
For some, that means Thanksgiving is not going to be quite as festive. If you enjoy large family gatherings, hanging out near malls for Black Friday sales, or traveling extensively to meet up with relatives, then your Thanksgiving spirit is going to be tempered this year, by default. That’s just the way it is in 2020.
I’m already bracing myself. I’m still getting together with family, but it’s going to be on a much smaller scale than usual. Given how big my family is and how much they love get-togethers, that’s going to make it rough. We’re still going to try and make it work. Thankfully, most of us have already learned to have large gatherings through Zoom and FaceTime.
However, I’d rather not dwell on what this Thanksgiving will lack. In the interest of keeping things balanced, I’d like to do my part to help us endure these pandemic-hampered holidays.
To that end, I’d like to share a video from the channel, Best Posts & Comments. It’s a simple complication of Reddit posts that recounted infamous incidents that occurred on Thanksgiving.
I must offer a clear warning, though. Some of these incidents are quite cringy. Trust me. You’ll know it when you hear it. Cringe or not, I hope it helps you feel a bit better about Thanksgiving this year. Enjoy!
Filed under Current Events, real stories, YouTube
Happy Thanksgiving!
Is everybody as hungry as I am today? I hope so. Today is a special day. Today, we give thanks to everything that enriches are lives, be it food, family, football, or erotica/romance novels.
I have a lot to be thankful for. I’m not just talking about one of my novels being picked up by a publisher either. I have an awesome family. I have a great life. I also live in an age where I can download a billion pictures of female breasts into my phone on demand. It’s a wonderful time to be alive.
So on behalf of me, Jack Fisher, I wish everyone a safe, happy, and sexy Thanksgiving. Please go out, spend some time with family, watch some football, eat some turkey, and find some time to make love to your lovers along the way. Let us all give thanks to that which makes our loves happy, fun, and sexy!
Filed under Jack Fisher's Insights
My Thanksgiving Preparations Have Begun!
This is a special time of year for me. It’s even more special this year after one of my novels, “Passion Relapse,” has been accepted by a publisher. I have many reasons to be excited about the coming months, but for the moment, I intend to channel that excitement into a more pressing issue. Yes, there is something that’s more pressing to me than publishing.
I’m referring to, of course, the holidays. I know I’m going to sound corny here and no, I don’t give a rat’s ass if I do, but I love the holidays. I love Christmas. I love Thanksgiving. It’s not just because of gifts, decorations, sales, or beautiful women dressed as sexy elves. Yes. that is a thing.
I love the holidays because it gives me and my family a chance to get together, have a big feast, and throw a big ass party. I’m not talking about a quiet night with wine, crackers, and polite conversation about politics, horses, and Downton Abby. I come from a family that knows how to goddamn party!
We drink. We sing. We dance. We make the kind of jokes you don’t see outside of South Park reruns. Then, there’s the food. God of mercy, we have awesome food. It’s the kind of food that’s worth waiting an entire goddamn year for. There are a lot of talented cooks in my family. There are also many who enjoy splurging on the kind of decadent deserts that will send you into a holiday coma. I like to think I’m both.
It all starts with Thanksgiving. At the moment, our plans are fairly set. We know who’s coming, when they’re coming, and how eager they are to come. Yes, I know that’s a very poor choice of words for an erotica/romance writer. No, I’m not going to apologize for it.
That means that right now, all that’s left to do is wait for Thanksgiving Day. For me, that means making a few very specific preparations. Those preparations involve me preparing myself for treats like this.
For 11 months out of the year, I generally try to maintain a pretty healthy lifestyle and a fairly healthy diet. I’m not a vegan or a total health nut, but I do like to take care of myself. I do try to make sure my diet is decent, at the very least. I try not to eat a lot of sugar, fatty foods, or anything that might make me feel less sexy.
Well, I basically kick those rules in the balls and throw them out the door for Thanksgiving. For one day, I basically forget everything I’ve learned about a healthy diet. For me, Thanksgiving is the ultimate cheat day. I won’t hesitate to gorge on turkey, beer, soda, whiskey, cheesecake, chocolate, or anything that ends up getting deep fried. I don’t care if it makes me feel sick the next day. It’s the holidays goddamn it!
In preparation for this, I’ll be eating a lot less for the next several days. I’ll skip deserts. I’ll skip snacks. If I drink anything, it’s going to be coffee or water. My stomach already knows this. I felt it growling last night, as if to tell me its getting impatient. Sometimes, I have to calm it down, urging it to wait just a little bit longer. It’ll be worth the wait.
I’m hoping my excitement over “Passion Relapse” makes the food taste that much sweeter. For the next few days though, I’ll be roughing it as much as I can in preparation. I intend to work up an epic appetite for this year and I intend to enjoy every goddamn moment of food, family, and football along the way. It may not be overly sexy, but it’s the most fun I’ll have all year with my pants on.
Filed under Jack Fisher's Insights
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