New Thanksgiving post from the Maxwells.

[socalrules]

So none of them are happy to have a four day vacation from work and the black Friday sales that will bring a new tv like I am? How sad.

Most people will say they are thankful for their families, and if they are religious, for whatever diety they worship watching over them. That is completely normal. What is not normal is to have no thanks for anything that would make you stand out as an individual. No one is thankful for getting a promotion, passing a class or making on a sports team at school. The only individual is the kid that gives thanks for snickerdoodles and her blankie.

[Boogalou]

Oh, wow! I am behind the times. Thanks Sydney Fox!

[BornFree]

Enlarge the photo of Steve and Teri and then cover the bottom portion of their faces so that you see only their eyes.

Steve looks like he's ready to accuse and declare you a sinner. Teri looks like she's going to cry. The smiles are pasted on. What do other see?

[Justme]

I have to LOL at Joe: thankful for being able to raise children, if/when he's given any. :lol: If Liz hadn't bolted, he'd probably be a Daddy or Daddy to be by now.

Watchout fundie single ladies, I think this boy/man is on the prowl..... :wink-kitty:

[ljohnson2006]

I'm thankful that the grandkids are too young to realize how crazy their family is.

[fundiefan]

This Thanksgiving I am thankful for my oldest niece, who got to spend the holiday with her boyfriend's family 300 miles from the rest of us. At 21, she's living her own life and making it a pretty damn awesome one at that.

I am grateful for my younger niece who was home from college for the weekend and brought her boyfriend to our Thanksgiving dinner. It's encouraging in a non-Maxwell way to watch her blossom into her own person. It was a bit of a rough start as she adjusted to college life. She's thriving on it now, as we all knew she would do.

I am also thankful that when one male in my family grows a beard there is nothing that says all the others have to follow suit, no matter their age or place in life. My brother in law is into the not quite a beard thing and thankfully, he is the only one who is on that bandwagon. Everyone in my family is their own person. Yet somehow, we still manage to come together as a family and enjoy and appreciate each other.

The lives of these people make me want to run screaming into an active volcano, although I, as always, do have to thank them for making it so easy for me to gush about and enjoy my own family, warts and all.

Who the fuck thanks their parents for having a vasectomy reversal? Why is that even a topic in a list of Thanksgiving gratefulness? How does that even work? Are the reversal kids told every day that they're reversal kids and should be thankful and worship the knife? The entire concept goes beyond my comprehension. I mean, I'm glad to be here too and had my parents been smarter I wouldn't be here, so I guess I should go around saying how grateful I am that mom was a horny teenager and dad was a cheating bastard who slept with young women instead of his wife (or on alternating weekends). I think I'll make that my Christmas card for next year.

[WonderingInWA]

Joseph: at this point? Do the Maxwells feel like that might change any day now? such melodrama. Their lives are so boring, they have to make up drama (persecution!!) that doesn't exist. And Mary is thankful for her father's vasectomy reversal. Nice.

This! LOLOL. Mary, we know your father has talked openly about the choice he made, but do you really have to remind us? Do you know what "TMI" means?

[WonderingInWA]

I have to LOL at Joe: thankful for being able to raise children, if/when he's given any. :lol: If Liz hadn't bolted, he'd probably be a Daddy or Daddy to be by now.

Watchout fundie single ladies, I think this boy/man is on the prowl..... :wink-kitty:

It's the closest he's going to get to a Match.com ad.

[WonderingInWA]

And Joseph used the word "cheerleaders", like he'd have any idea what one of THOSE was! I'm surprised Stevie didn't make him choose a different word since it implies the sin of girls in short skirts supporting sports that are often shown on evil television.

[Sydney Fox]

Oh, wow! I am behind the times. Thanks Sydney Fox!

No problem. :D

[freejugar]

Anna's " I know I deserve Hell"

wtf? not even Steve's was so gloomy

[lizziesmom]

Who is it that picks out the color coordinated/matching outfits for the family photos? If this group had instruments, I'd think they were a fundie version of the Osmonds.

[danvillebelle]

It's not a holiday (or any day) for the Maxwell's without GLOOM DOOM DEATH HELL.

NR Anna still looks stunningly gorgeous and her pregnancy glow is practically an aura at this point.

I am not understanding why they're taking all these pictures in front of stained glass windows in what is obviously an actual church when they are SO anti-church overall.

[WonderingInWA]

It's not a holiday (or any day) for the Maxwell's without GLOOM DOOM DEATH HELL.

NR Anna still looks stunningly gorgeous and her pregnancy glow is practically an aura at this point.

I am not understanding why they're taking all these pictures in front of stained glass windows in what is obviously an actual church when they are SO anti-church overall.

I was wondering the same thing. They must be in a historic building or something other than a church -- maybe a library (evil!) or something.

ETA: Oh, never mind, they are sitting in pews so must be a church. But the shape of the windows and the colors of the glass seem really non-traditional to me. Anyone know anything about stained glass architecture?

[Lillybee]

One of the reversals is grateful for their church and pastor and didn't mention that the church is in a senior citizen facility or that daddy is the pastor. I wonder if some of the younger kids even remember going to a regular church.

[YPestis]

The Maxwells' thanksgiving lists are so bleh. They are thankful that they won't go to hell, for family and for work. I think it's a reflection of their isolated and bland lives that most of their lists are so similar with little talk of outside interests or non-work activities. It's nice to see NR-Anna speak of friends, although we don't see them. I think the grandkiddies' lists are so cute and I hope they will continue to personalize their thanksgiving with such ideas. All in all, I bet you could transplant the previous years' list to this year and you wouldn't see a difference. Sad, isn't it?

[Mela99]

Love the anti abortion blurb.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

I don't get Anna's list. What did she do to diserve sin & have a debt. She's 19 & has no life outside the family.

She was born an utterly depraved wretched sinner, like everyone else in existence, according to her worldview and religion. Merely by existing, she was destined for hell, except that she accepted Jesus and so now believes she is saved and destined for heaven, purely on the whim of God.

The Pastor Saeed thing though. There are a lot of human rights violations every single day in the world. Extreme poverty. Really many things. Pick though an Evangelical Christian above all that. Way to show how narrow minded they are.

Yeah that one reads a little weird. I get it as a "sympathy for our friend" type thing if he's someone they look up to or correspond with I guess but it's also strange to worry about him missing out on Thanksgiving - if the guy isn't American, Thanksgiving as the last weekend in November is not really any special thing. He would probably miss his family more on other more locally-specific cultural days. Just sayin'.

Love the anti abortion blurb.

Just got back from a drive through rural Indiana myself, and wow, the number of abortion billboards (both professionally done and various flavors of handmade) in that area is just amazing.

[BullyJBG]

Hey, Sarah's thankful for US! For blog readers! Isn't that sweet? And Terri kind of implied that too. As I liked to tell people I used to work with; God loves you so much He sent me here to work with you. Hey, it's a start, right?

[Dandruff]

That blog post could have been a lot shorter by saying that all the adults are thankful to Jesus for saving them from Hell, and they all love their immediate and extended families, then whatever specific thanks were left. I think every one of them is scared to not thank Jesus first, whenever it might be remotely 'appropriate'. Brings to mind people who won't step on a crack in the sidewalk or walk under a ladder.

[Jana814]

One of the reversals is grateful for their church and pastor and didn't mention that the church is in a senior citizen facility or that daddy is the pastor. I wonder if some of the younger kids even remember going to a regular church.

Saw that too although I think Jesse wrote pastor (Dad).

[salex]

Some of their thanks are really normal..until the Jesus stuff.

The Pastor Saeed thing though. There are a lot of human rights violations every single day in the world. Extreme poverty. Really many things. Pick though an Evangelical Christian above all that. Way to show how narrow minded they are.

I would love a Muslim to chap their door to Evangelise them, I wonder how thankful they would be for religious freedom then. OH wait.......some religions eschew proselytizing as practised by the Maxwells. :think:

Jay Sekulow (SP?) has been pounding on the Pastor Saeed drum for a long time now, and "Christian" radio was all hysterical Obama didn't demand his release while negotiating with Iran recently. It upped the hysteria and likely the donations. aclj.org/iran/appalling-betrayal-american-pastor-saeed-abedini

They have been using this on several levels, to imply that Obama is not a Christian, it is a way to keep politics front and center, and it is a serious fund raiser.

[fullmetalheart]

When I was in second grade, I was in either a church Thanksgiving play or something with the local Christian school (I was homeschooled, but attended the local Baptist school for music and physical education, and I was in all plays, all field trips, all parties, etc). I remember when they asked us what we were thankful for and I'd said "I'm thankful for Jesus Christ for dying for my sins." I wouldn't do that now. It's a little scary they all did that.

[ILoveJellybeans]

Anna's " I know I deserve Hell"

wtf? not even Steve's was so gloomy

Anna seems pretty miserable there. Let go of the guilt Anna, you haven't done anything wrong-nobody's perfect, not even your dad.

[Childless]

She was born an utterly depraved wretched sinner, like everyone else in existence, according to her worldview and religion. Merely by existing, she was destined for hell, except that she accepted Jesus and so now believes she is saved and destined for heaven, purely on the whim of God.

Yeah that one reads a little weird. I get it as a "sympathy for our friend" type thing if he's someone they look up to or correspond with I guess but it's also strange to worry about him missing out on Thanksgiving - if the guy isn't American, Thanksgiving as the last weekend in November is not really any special thing. He would probably miss his family more on other more locally-specific cultural days. Just sayin'.

Just got back from a drive through rural Indiana myself, and wow, the number of abortion billboards (both professionally done and various flavors of handmade) in that area is just amazing.

Rural Indiana sucks. Actually, Indiana as a whole sucks. First chance I get, I'm getting the hell out of this state.