I will be celebrating Thanksgiving this year the same way I celebrated it the last two years…..

I abhor Halloween. I vehemently refuse to celebrate Christmas, Easter or the Fourth of July. Valentine’s Day is a non-holiday for me. Memorial Day and Labor Day are just regular days. New Year’s isn’t so bad although I normally don’t celebrate it much. Groundhog Day is a holiday I like because it points towards springtime….

But Thanksgiving has always been my very favorite holiday. It is about gratitude and appreciation and abundance. Most importantly, it is about food and cooking. I love food and I especially love cooking.

I have a treasure chest of fond Thanksgiving memories. One of the best memories was of when I single-handedly cooked a Thanksgiving turkey meal for fourteen people. Watching those fourteen people eating and savoring my food was nothing short of euphoric. That, to me, was the ultimate holiday.

My turkeys always came out perfectly and many people have asked me what my secret is. I told them simply, “Stick the bird in the oven and don’t think about it or open the oven again until it’s done.”

They all looked at me like I was high or something. I don’t think any of them ever took my advice seriously. But that doesn’t matter.

I have been blissfully living alone for the last eleven years so I no longer have anyone to cook for on Thanksgiving — especially since both the dog and the cat kicked the bucket. It’s just me and I cook for myself every single day so how would cooking for myself on Thanksgiving be a holiday? How would it be any different than any other day?

I had to think of a new way to celebrate Thanksgiving; some way that did not involve cooking.

Well, three years ago I took a part-time job. I was running out of money and I didn’t want to do homelessness. I told myself it was just a temporary situation until I either won the lottery or one of my books made the New York Times bestseller list. Well, neither of those things have happened so I’m still at the job three years later. (I’ve been told that it might help if I actually promote my books and if I actually buy lottery tickets but I don’t always listen to advice.)

I’ve had countless jobs over the course of my life and this one isn’t too bad. It is a very easy job and it is almost completely devoid of stress. It’s also only two and a half blocks away from where I live so the commute is awesome. The pay, however, is abysmal. And there is no paid vacation, no paid sick days, no insurance, no overtime, and no time and a half on holidays. The business is open 365 days a year.

The owner is a die-hard American capitalist — and staunch Republican. The way he sees it is that if the business is closed for a day then he isn’t making any money on that day. So while he is at home celebrating Thanksgiving with his family, the business is open. The weird thing is that even though he and I are as different as night and day, I really like the guy. After my first year he finally decided that I was not a threat to him and since then he has put up with me and trusted me. We get along great. (He is half my age and is hopelessly stricken with the disease of ambition; his goal being to become as rich as Mark Zuckerberg. He’s got a long, long, long way to go.

So three years ago when I was still pretty new at this job I came up with a new way to celebrate Thanksgiving. I talked it over with the boss and he looked at me like I was high or something but agreed to my proposal. I then told all of my co-workers that they could take the day off and celebrate Thanksgiving at home with their families. I told them that I would work the entire day and run the place all by myself.

They all looked at me like I was high or something. (I don’t know why people look at me like that. I haven’t done that in a long, long, long time.) Last year, one of them actually hugged me. They all have told me that if there was anything they could ever do for me that they would be glad to. (I’ve never taken them up on that but I keep that in my back pocket. I may want to take a vacation some day.) They were all appreciative and grateful and overjoyed.

That first year I did this I thought it would be an easy slow day so I brought a book with me. After all, who goes out to do business on Thanksgiving Day? Well, it turned out to be a fairly busy day. I was surprised. I asked most everyone what they were doing going out to do business on Thanksgiving and everyone gave the same answer; “Had to get out of the house.”

Of course I was pretty laid back the whole day and tried to maintain a quasi-party atmosphere. And since the boss and all the co-workers weren’t there I was sure to break a couple of rules….just for fun.

Celebrating that first year of working instead of cooking for Thanksgiving turned out to be surprisingly rewarding. I felt really good giving my coworkers the gift of a holiday off. (Something my boss has never experienced.) It was almost as rewarding as cooking a big meal for a bunch of people. It felt so good that I did it again last year.

And this year I am doing it again. (One of my female coworkers who has two small children and visiting relatives is especially grateful.) Yes, Thanksgiving is still my favorite holiday.

Next year I am really hoping that I am no longer working there. My coworkers, however, are really hoping that I still am.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Think of something different to do in addition to the normal activities.