Thanksdrinking

Someone important gets born, a bunch of people have a neighborhood dinner party, or a prankster named April gets foolish. This is how holidays start, innocently enough, and so it is with Thanksdrinking.

A little over a year ago it turned out like me, my friend Ken had no plans for Thanksgiving. Neither of us were upset about this course of events but speaking on the phone that morning we agreed it wasn’t just another day and celebration was in order. After discussing our options we decided to meet in town mid-afternoon for a beer or more accurately, beers.

Downtown Santa Fe was eerily quiet, there was practically no car traffic, and likewise for people on foot. Apparently everyone was merrily stuffing their gullets or having seconds or having seconds regret. Or… well, my sister and I were both born in August, four years and 364 days apart. When quizzed about this, our folks glanced at one another, blushed, and claimed, “you know… those Thanksgiving parties.”

The place we decided to meet, The Catamount, was closed so we hiked over to Rio Chama. They were open and a small number of patrons sat around the bar. The atmosphere was dominated by a football game on the XXL big-screen with the volume turned way up. Beggars can’t be choosers so we bellied up to the bar, ordered beer and proceed to shout at each other. One beer’s worth of this was more than enough so we headed toward the plaza and the lounge at La Fonda. It was busy but not a shouting match so we hung out for a couple cold one’s and guacamole and chips. After La Fonda we wrapped it up. I thoroughly enjoyed this new way of celebrating the holiday; low key, hang out with a great friend, I didn’t eat (or drink) too much and facing the mountains of dirty dishes and pots and pans a thing of memory.

This year for Thanksgiving Ken and Shannon headed east to be with family and R and I headed across town to be with family. Nonetheless I called Ken and suggested we have a beer. After all, last year had been such fun it seemed worth making a tradition of it. Things however didn’t look good. The open spots on our calendars were out of synch. Maybe after the holiday… so to clinch the deal I suggested we create a new holiday and call it “Thanksdrinking.” Capital idea! There’s no particular date to it, just within a week or so of Thanksgiving; don’t bother with the food, skip the dishes and give thanks by drinking a beverage with a friend. Ken was in.

Last night we met to celebrate the new holiday, and to our astonishment it’s is already catching on. The bars at both Pranzo and Junction were busy. Revelers clinked glasses, made toasts, shared the goings on of life, watched and hooted at football and generally were thankful. Yeah, Happy Thanksdrinking!

Gordon Bunker