A Shout Out to Thanksgiving!

 
When did Thanksgiving become a brief layover on the trip to Christmas? I'm not sure if you have, but I have noticed in recent years that Thanksgiving has been given short shrift because it isn’t as commercially lucrative as Christmas.

This year, a few days after Halloween, the Christmas decor was going up. Not even an honorable mention to Thanksgiving! Well, not on my watch. I have a few things to say in praise of Thanksgiving.

• It’s about Gratitude and is there anything more important than that? We all need to spend more time being grateful for what we have right here, right now, rather than bemoaning what we don’t have, or fear we never will have. The vibration of gratitude is a very high one and it can lift us out of some really dark places. 
• We don’t have to shop or wrap for this holiday. One trip to the grocery store, some time in the kitchen and we are good to go. No endless gatherings, no agony over what to buy, or holiday cards to write, or crowded malls…We just come together, enjoy each other, focus on what we are thankful for and have a delicious meal. How great is that? And this holiday gets no press? I don’t get it. 
• It happens Thursday, by Friday you are on to other things…and bonus…you have left overs to enjoy for at least two days. 
• There are minimal decorations involved and most of them are focused on the table. No hours of hanging lights or ornaments, nothing moving or flashing on the lawn for days, no potential power outages to worry about. Just Gratitude. 
• There are no pageants or caroling in the cold that have to be endured. You just gather in a warm home, sit down, say grace and pass the mashed potatoes. The only other energy outlay is making conversation, eating pumpkin pie and drinking coffee by a warm fire…it’s beautiful! 

So here’s to THANKSGIVING. LONG MAY YOU REIGN! I hope you will all join me on Thursday in Gratitude that we have this wonderful holiday that reminds us all to focus on what is really important…Love of others and Gratitude.

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