A Celebration Without Food? No Way!

Have you ever celebrated a holiday, birthday, wedding or special occasion without food being a part of the celebration? I doubt it. We expect special food to go along with the special occasions. It's a given that we will eat turkey and dressing on Thanksgiving and Barbcue on the Fourth of July. We're going to the Blue Ridge Mountains in two weeks and I'm already planning my menus. It's all about the food! Good food, good times and good memories. Just the smell of fried chicken makes me think about my great grandmother. It seems that no matter when we went to visit her she would have fried chicken and gravy and biscuits.
Have you ever thought about how strange it is that we celebrate by eating? Why not celebrate by going for a run or going fishing or flying a kite? I can just imagine my aunt calling to invite us to meet on Thanksgiving for a 5k run! Why not celebrate this way? Who started this eating tradition anyway? What about the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus? What if they left some brochures on learning to speak Spanish in our baskets and stockings instead of candy? Why do we feel the need to eat until we're sick on special occasions? It all started with the Clean Plate Club. Boy, I really wanted to be in that club! Then I grow up and find out there is no Club, or Clean Plate Prom or anything! What about eating everything on your plate because there are children starving in other countries? I thought that if I didn't eat the peas and other yucky stuff that there would be that much more food for them. I just never figured out how my eating habits had an effect on starving children. But why change now? I just feel like I'm doing my civic duty by eating everything on my plate!