Thankful for More Than Some Football on TV

Thanksgiving is family. Thanksgiving is food. Thanksgiving is football. Not necessarily in that order of importance for everyone. Oh, and a reminder for those who dread getting together with relatives: As dysfunctional as your family may be, rest assured (or not so assured) that the world is filled with dysfunctional families.

Kennedy Summers, Playboy’s Playmate for December, will be on the Dec. 2 “Sports & Torts” show. Credit: Playboy

Non-dysfunctional families? I imagine they exist; not sure where. Maybe it’s the people I hang around, but there seems to be no such thing as normal when it comes to relatives. Then again, maybe it isn’t the people I hang around.

No matter how screwed up things may be in your life, there are people — people you imagine leading exquisite existences in wonderful worlds — whose lives are equally screwed up. And even worse, if you can imagine that.

And for all that, you can be thankful. Certainly for one day. Or for as long as you are gathering with family on Thanksgiving. Look on the bright side: You can be thankful you don’t see them much more than on Thanksgiving.

Of course, there are families that actually enjoy being together. Or so the story goes.

Whatever the case, enjoy your time with friends and family — whether it is Thanksgiving or any other day. As you get older, you realize the older generation at family functions tends to dwindle from decade to decade (sometimes from year to year); and when you look around to see who the oldest folks might be, it turns out to be you. That’s if you’re lucky. Life offers no guarantee of longevity. It also offers no guarantee of levity, although you have a better chance of controlling that.

Life used to be simple. A Green Bay Packers-Detroit Lions game early in the day, followed by the Dallas Cowboys playing an opponent that would vary from season to season. For those of us who exist in a casual world with no formal sitdown, that meant we could wander late in the afternoon into early evening to check out the Cowboys game on an out-of-the-way television.

Stores were closed. The world — or at least the world as we knew it — stopped.

Times change. The NFL has a third game that is televised to a night-time audience. People adjust accordingly.

People change. The kids at Thanksgivings past have children of their own, sometimes grandchildren of their own. Stores are open for shoppers seeking a bargain and/or to spend less time with family. Some people see stores being open on Thanksgiving as ruining the family. I suppose that assumes your family doesn’t already fit into some category of disrepair. But do not despair.

The reality is some people will work on Thanksgiving because stores are open, and some people will shop at those stores. There may not be much choice for the store employees about whether they work. There is choice for consumers about whether they shop. If people don’t like the idea of shopping on Thanksgiving, then there is a simple solution: Don’t. Those people can control their lives; they cannot control everyone’s life.

That is the reality of the situation. That is life. Enjoy yours.

Now if you don’t mind (and even if you do), I’m going to have another piece of pumpkin pie and see if I can find a television so I can watch a football game.

OK, before devouring that piece of pumpkin pie, let the record show that among the things I am thankful for are family, friends and the folks who tune in for “Sports & Torts” (rumor has it that more than friends and family actually partake of the interview show co-hosted by David Spada and Elliott Harris on Talkzone.com on Thursdays at noon Central time).

While there is no new show this Nov. 28, 2013, there should be a rerun. If things go according to plan (and occasionally they really do), WNBA star Elena Delle Donne of the Chicago Sky will be one of the featured guests.

There will be a new episode on Dec. 2. On that program, we will have the December 2013 Playboy Playmate Kennedy Summers (who is featured in one of the videos below and in the photo above). Just a little note to brighten — or further brighten — your Thanksgiving.

Here is where to go for a daily dose of non-gratuitous video — even on Thanksgiving — thanks to the efforts of the editorial and video departments at elliottharris.com):

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