Published: November 21, 2008 02:28 pm            

A story lies behind each thankful thought

Four holiday seasons ago, I unwittingly began a new Thanksgiving tradition at the Princeton Times. On a particularly slow news week, I visited a second-grade classroom and asked the students to explain Thanksgiving to me, so I could tell all the people who read the newspaper what the turkey-toned holiday was all about.

The interview turned into such fun that the story stuck, and a very similar one appears annually this time of year. In case you missed it, there’s even one in this edition.

Every year, the kids and I talk turkey, and they explain how the Pilgrims and Indians sat down to a dinner that was so delicious that it taught both cultures that everything tastes sweeter when life is lived in harmony. Of course, when they say it, it sounds more like, “It was yummy, and they stopped fighting.”

Each visit, I learn, often in amazement, exactly how the tots think we ought to cook turkeys, and every time, they tell me how they’re most thankful for their friends, families, pets and homes.

Those answers are all very sweet and sincere, but I’m always on the lookout for the answers that stand out a little — or a lot.

Once, a teacher actually cringed when one little boy declared that the Indians showed the Pilgrims how to plant fish. When the discussion turned to a robot turkey this week, Ms. Baker was quick to question if there were really robots roaming the earth on the first Thanksgiving.

And, while most of the students look forward to the mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie that will adorn most holiday tables, there’s always at least one in the crowd who’s hoping for the unusual likes of Hawaiian pineapple pizza and banana pudding for their feast.

Those are the answers I wait for, because there’s usually a story that follows that little person’s line of thinking, and as I ask the kids to tell me their tales, it occasionally strikes me that I’m not being fair by not telling mine.

This year, I’m changing that. Here goes ...

Like the little thinkers I interviewed Wednesday, I’m ever so thankful for my friends and family I’ve been blessed with, a warm home at the end of a wintry day and the food that will no doubt await eating this Thanksgiving.

This year, I’m also thankful for chocolate chip cookies.

I’m not typically a chocolate fiend. Christmas is almost the only time I make cookies, and though I understand it’s a delicacy for some, I never acquired a taste for raw cookie dough.

See, Wednesday was one of those off-the-charts bad days — the kind that hits us all from time to time and leaves us questioning everything from hairstyles to the warmth of our hearts.

An irate reader started the morning off wrong when she accused me of attempting to kill readers with a grammatical error. Ol’ Man Winter’s bite had my toes turning blue. And things just spiraled downhill all day from there.

The details don’t matter all that much, but after a series of marathon meetings, hours of writing and stacks of editing still awaited before this week’s edition was ready for the paperbox, doorstep, sidewalk rack or store counter.

And I didn’t have the will to do any of it.

So, between one of my offices and the other, I found a friend and pleaded for a soft place to land for just a little while. Receiving a text-message welcome, I made a beeline for a place I was fairly certain no one would find fault in me.

When I got there, my friend was making chocolate chip cookies in an effort to dry up the tears and put the lost smile that normally sits on my face back where it belonged.

Once he reads this, I’m guessing he’ll claim the baking oven really just helped warm the kitchen when the numbers on the dining room thermometer dipped too low. Even if that’s the case, I’m glad the kitchen was cold. Because, there the day turned around.

The weather was still frigid. The numbers crunched earlier still didn’t add up easily, and the potentially fatal misprint was still wrong.

But someone cared enough to stop what he was doing, make me cookies and send the rest back to the office in a baggie, just to make a blue day better.

As Wednesday’s first-graders would happily announce, “They were yummy.”

The next time someone tells me they’re thankful for cherry popsicles or cheese popcorn on Thanksgiving, I’ll probably still laugh and put it in print for you to enjoy too.

But, next time, I’ll also understand and send up a special thanks for cookies on a cold November night.

Tammie Toler is Princeton Times editor. Contact her at ttoler@ptonline.net.

        

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