vegan holiday dinner

[Guest guest]

Hi,

I agree that those of us who do not want dead animals in our kitchens

or dinner tables have that right. I live in Missouri and I am very

sympathetic to this problem.

Let me be the devil's advocate for a minute though. (Please do not

think of this as a guilt trip I am trying to send anyone on.)

 

If you knew this were the last holiday you had with your meat eating

relatives how would you deal with the issue of them wanting to bring a

dead critter for the dinner table?

 

I was faced with a similar problem this Thanksgiving. My dad ( whom I

am not all that close to) came from Tulsa for a few days. Although he

is feeling fine right now my dad has terminal cancer and has a limited

time before the cancer will invade his organs and he will succumb to

the disease. He is also diabetic.

He knows we are vegetarian. Before coming he asked if we could get him

a TV turkey dinner. (He actually likes TV dinners, puck!) While I

cringed at the idea I got him a few dead animal TV dinners while he was

here.

My five year old son and I discussed the issue and he understood that

while we do not agree with granddad eating meat we recognize he is ill

and respect him wanting to come and visit. We joked that we wanted to

keep him alive long enough to make it back to Tulsa because we would

have to dig a really big hole in the back yard to bury him.

Watching granddad check his blood sugar made a big impression on my

five year old. He was really making the connections between taking care

of oneself and remaining healthy.

In retrospect I am happy with how everything went. My son learned more

than I ever could tell him by watching the declining health of his meat

eating relative. (Some of my dad's condition may be genetic but it

won't hurt my son to think it is all due to poor diet and lack of

exercise.)

 

From an emotional stand point, enjoy your relatives for the time you

have them. Life is too short to not appreciate the good in one another.

I lost my mom three years ago when she was suddenly killed in an auto

accident. She was by far the best grandparent my kids had.

I hope everyone has a happy holiday season and finds ways to reconcile

their differences.

Peace,

Teresa