We have sort of started getting ready for Thanksgiving, which surpasses even my birthday as the absolute best holiday of the year. Megan and Nate bring the grandkids, my ex-wife comes over and this year Dee’s mom is coming from Indiana. I usually work Thanksgiving. Megan, Nate et al have Turkey Day with the Ryans on Thursday … so our festive meal is at our house on Saturday.

Not that you care about all that — but this post on Jew and The Carrot about the importance of food to happiness really got me.

It’s about vegetarianism and the Talmud, specifically this quote: “There is no simcha without meat and wine.”

Simcha is …

Joy.

I understand the sense of the post, that we are not to be ascetic, not to be shrunken souls, but to drink in the fullness of life. And I also understand that what pleasure people find in turning a bag of groceries into a meal is unbounded, it is without limits, and in holiday celebration it is proof if we need proof that we are stardust.