Sometimes, Thanksgiving can be stressful. Oh, not in the “I got to get this stuff in the oven by 5am or the dinner won’t be ready by 3″ type of stress.

I speak of the family stress. There are times when you just don’t want to deal with family and their considerable amount of insecurities. Being around them during these periods causes one to become stressed and aggravated.

This year, that is what I experienced. I didn’t want to be around people who have to build up walls and pretend to be nice, but in all reality, they are completely insecure about everything in their lives and they are just waiting to take it out on you. And when they try and drop the hammer of insecurity, I just wanted to run for the door.

I am not speaking of my father, who is literally going through the most stressful point in his life as he awaits tests results to see if his cancer is gone or if it has spread to his liver. His mind wasn’t so much on overcooked turkey and whipped turnips (who eats that any way?). But he got through the family gathering in one piece.

Not me. And especially not my brother who didn’t stick around for dinner. He would rather go visit his friend’s on Thanksgiving Day than to deal with stupid dysfunctional family issues.

It is not I didn’t try to be cheerful, but the day was nowhere near I hoped it would be. That made dinner nearly unbearable. I only ate one plate serving (my doctor will be happy) but nothing else. No seconds on anything. I just wanted to get up from the table and leave.

Sadly, I fear for Christmas Day. These issues will not work themselves out during the Christmas season; in fact, they will only get worse. And I don’t want to deal with it. I have plenty of other things in my life that cause me stress. I don’t need manufactured issues added to my plate.

OK. Now onto other things. I was invited to celebrate “Thanksgiving Eve.” And yes, to my surprise, places where people have fun were jammed. I can’t understand it, but they were. There were long lines to get into drinking holes all over the place. The saving grace was that it really wasn’t cold outside. Oh, it was as foggy as foggy can get. But it was not cold. While I can’t wrap myself around this little escape night before Turkey day, the night was very enjoyable. I was with a group of people who are fun to be around. I thank them for allowing this clergy person to tag along.