Family tradition

In the transition from the place we call bachelorhood to the land of long-term relationship with the capitol city of marriage, there are the little changes that can be expected -- all the man/woman stuff that is stereotyped every day and everywhere in places ranging from those magazines men read 'just for the articles' to sitcoms on 'NBC Must See TV' -- but as you steadily venture away from the days of being single and a diet that consists mainly of Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, there are changes more noteworthy than forgetting to put the toilet seat down or using all your grocery money on beer and cereal.

There are bigger changes -- additions to your life.

Some of the bigger changes come during the holidays. Being married, or in my case engaged, the holidays become twice as busy. There are two families to shop for, twice as many birthday parties to attend, twice as many anniversaries that I will ultimately forget and on Thanksgiving, twice as many turkey dinners.

With both families in the area, it is normally a point to hit both households. That turns out to be a massive turkey dinner, following the massive turkey lunch you just ate three hours ago. At Christmas its a massive Christmas dinner and the opening of the gifts at one house Christmas Eve and then the opening of gifts before a massive Christmas dinner at the other house on Christmas day.

Two families, two holiday dinners -- that usually translates to five extra pounds of 'holiday weight' and a turkey hangover for about three days following Thanksgiving.

But also with the addition of a family, comes the addition of family traditions and adapting to your new family traditions. In the Bartz household, watching football is a religious experience itself and for me, football is as big a part of the Thanksgiving holiday as the turkey itself.

This year, we decided to postpone Thanksgiving at the Bartz compound until Sunday, because of my brothers' work schedule, so that ment Thanksgiving at the in-laws for J.B. And that is fine, because I thought like any other red blooded American family, they would have the football game on television.

But for my future in-laws, watching football doesn't exactly rank high on their list of holiday priorities. And to make things worse, it was my team -- the Chicago Bears -- that were playing on Thanksgiving Day. Normally I have a better opportunity to see a lunar eclipse than a televised Bears game, so I spent the week before Thanksgiving constantly bugging my fiancee, asking her repeatedly when the turkey day dinner will be served, not hesitating to suggest 5 p.m. as a great time to eat, knowing that the game should be over by about 4 p.m.

Every day leading up to Thanksgiving, Valley Life editor Casey Ressler would ask me how my battle to watch the Bears was going.

And each time I'd reply, "I'm holding strong."

Ressler even called me at halftime during the Bears game to see if my fiancee had become fed up and left or if my new family had already disowned me.

But I was holding strong, maintaining my tradition of watching football on Thanksgiving, while my future in-laws patiently waited for us with no football showing on their massive television.

Things basically worked out. I got to see the football game, my in-laws didn't start dinner without us and I am still engaged. So, I guess all things considered I have a lot to be thankful for.

Although it would have been nice if the Bears would have won.

Frontiersman Jeremiah Bartz hopes one day he can buy a house, host Thanksgiving dinner and always have football on the television.