Norman Rockwell lied to us.

[The Backlash Cometh]

Take a look at his painting of the Thanksgiving feast on Crooksandliars. I just cooked me a 23 pound turkey that looked smaller than the turkey in the picture, and there is no way that I nor my husband could carry that size of a bird as easily as it's being depicted in that painting. Not without doing some serious weight training.

[DearAbby]

1. Artistic license

critics, critics are everywhere. ;)

[Hissyspit]

2. Mine was 23 lbs and 3/4 and...

it was damn difficult to work with. It turned out great, though.

The irony with Rockwell, of course, is that people like him because he is easily readable, full of detail and easy-to-read narrative/content, so people think it is "realistic," but realism is a term we apply to all kinds of elements of a work of art. Artworks and indeed any language are full of truth and lie, arbitrariness and non-arbitrariness. People may think the over-actors in his painters are "realistic," but there is all kind of falseness. His is a certain kind of idealism and propaganda.

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. I like Rockwell.

He was actually, very liberal in his views.

[Hissyspit]

6. I realize that. What I was discussing was not really a "like" or "not like"

issue, but what is behind the artist's need to show grandma leaning over with a 23 lb. when it would be KILLING her back (even with grandpa's help - it hurt my back to look at it again just now!). :)

[The Backlash Cometh]

16. Yeah, it hurts my back, too! LOL!

[flyingfysh]

11. Rockwell was very liberal

He was asked to do recruiting posters in the Vietnam era, and refused. He also did well-known magazine covers supporting the civil rights movement. He worked in western Massachusetts and Vermont, which is probably the most liberal area of the country.

You can see much of his work at the Norman Rockwell Museum, in Stockbridge Massachusetts (yes, the same town as in the Arlo Guthrie song), and you can tour his studio (moved from town to the museum grounds). It's worth a trip.

[Hissyspit]

3. Yipes! Just as I was typing my first response...

the painting came on my television screen - it was a buffer on "That '70s Show" - only everyone in the painting was singing Mott The Hoople's "All The Young Dudes."

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

4. That Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire Dude?

:rofl:

[no_hypocrisy]

7. Lie #2: My family never looked that happy and excited at Thanksgiving,

bird or otherwise. They looked apprehensive and stressed.

[The Backlash Cometh]

17. I broke the curse last night!

We all had a really good time.

[no_hypocrisy]

20. Congratulations (No irony, no sarcasm. I reallly am happy for you.)

OTOH, without going into details, my family may never have Thanksgiving at home after what we went through last night. We canceled the dinner five minutes before we were going to sit down at the table, all disbanded 45 minutes thereafter.

[The Backlash Cometh]

21. Did you write about it? Can I coax you to write about it now?

The reason why I broke the curse, is because I had Thanksgiving at my house and made the turkey. My guest list excluded outside family members besides my hubbie and two kids. We invited friends. Real friends. The kinds that stick with you through thick and thin and which are few and far between.

If there ever was a true Thanksgiving camaraderie between Indians and the Pilgrims, what should have been commemorated was the celebration of new friendships, new beginnings. Not family. That's for Christmas.

[no_hypocrisy]

22. Here's the story, abridged.

It was just my sister, my brother-in-law, and Dad. My sister has four little dogs. Five minutes before we were going to sit down, she noticed the newest dog was missing. We searched the house. Nothing. We went outside in the rain and the dark, calling for her dog. Fifteen minutes later, the police brought the little dog back to the house, dead from being run over two blocks away from the house. My sister screamed in horror and was naturally inconsolable. My brother-in-law and I sobbed. Our father couldn't reach out -- because he just can't. And my sister blamed herself for what happened because her dog must have scooted out without her knowledge when she went out to walk Dad's dog, and her dog lost her scent due to the rain and the dark. We returned to the kitchen and silently packed away the food, washed the serving dishes, and returned to our respective homes, having lost our appetites. Dad's donating the food to a food pantry as I write.

My siser and brother-in-law cannot have children, so they have adopted these dogs, some before they've been about to be euthanized. The dogs are their children. It is more than "losing a pet" to them.

I didn't want to give you a depressing story, but here it is. It is tragic, it sucks, it makes no sense, and saying "Shit happens" does not make it any more acceptable.

[The Backlash Cometh]

23. I am so sorry for your misfortune.

My deepest regrets to you and your family.

[no_hypocrisy]

24. Thank you. Very much appreciated.

[global1]

8. Maybe It Was A Plastic Turkey Like G.W. * Held In Iraq A Couple....

of years ago.

[acmejack]

9. Modern day Grannies are wimps!

In Norman's day sweet little bespectacled Grannies were not that far removed from the pioneer days-chopping wood, that's what did it-look at how effortlessly our (p)Resident hoists that bird, it's from chopping brush you liberal weenies!- plastic you say! What the hell! uh, forget it...

[w8liftinglady]

13. if you are Christmas shopping,you can buy turkey GWB

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/B0006JGU3G/ref=pd_rvi_gw_1/104-2280893-5416757

[The Backlash Cometh]

18. But who would want to eat a plastic turkey with grapes?

[baldguy]

10. We used to be a much sturdier folk.

Grandmas could sling a 50-lb turkey with no problem, then reach out to smack a mis-behaving youngster from across the table.

[warrior1]

12. modern day

[The Backlash Cometh]

19. Now that's sad.

[Neshanic]

14. Turkeys were bigger and everyone walked through 50' drifts to go to school,

even in Phoenix.

Parents explained it to me when little.

[Kber]

15. Rockwell always painted as we should be, not how we are.

In the best of worlds, grandma's are strong, families are happy and Turkeys are always perfectly cooked.

[KansDem]

25. Actually, yesterday was the first Thanksgiving I carved the bird AT THE TABLE!

In previous TGs, I always carved the bird in the kitchen and brought it out in pieces on a platter. Since we reduced our "sides" this year, we had room on the table, so I thought, "Hmmm, let's pull a 'Norman Rockwell' and carve it there. So I did!

I even thought about putting on a shirt and tie, but my wife adamantly refuse to don a dress and apron...

[The Backlash Cometh]

26. We put ours on the table for the picture.

Everybody was polite not to mention that it was beginning to split down the middle from the bottom up. Didn't seem to matter at all. It was plenty moist and I don't think we'll have leftovers by tomorrow, anyways.