Here come the holidays! At the end of October, I heard someone say, “Happy Hallowthankmas!” It made me snort, but let’s not be lazy and jumble them all together. They do tend to bring the Christmas decorations out earlier and earlier, but I don’t hate it. They are trying to entice people to do some Christmas shopping. It’s marketing, it’s free enterprise, and I don’t hate any of that. It’s still pretty and festive to me. We don’t need it all year around, but it’s fun when it comes around. Who doesn’t love a holiday? Who doesn’t appreciate a reason to celebrate?
Halloween has it’s fun and traditions as well as childhood memories. Thanksgiving is also full of memories, traditions, and a time to pause for gratefulness for the bounty we enjoy. Christmas is a whole other ball of wax that stands out on its own with memories, traditions, and a reason to celebrate peace on earth, good will to all. Nobody can dislike that.
If you need to lump together all the holidays, why don’t we have Happy Martin-val-easter-mem-indie-lab-vet’s-hallow-thank-mas Day? If we mashed them all together, we could command much more productivity by less days off, but think of the harm. We’d forget what each individual celebration was about. We’d forget the decorations, the food, and the special traditions unique to each holiday. Think of the damage to businesses that cater to those festivities. No more tinsel? No more sparklers and bunting? No more costumes and pumpkins? No more huge turkey dinner? No. This is an unsatisfactory idea.
Thanksgiving approaches and my turkey is thawing nicely in the refrigerator, as recommended, and will be the star of a table full of Thanksgiving favorites, passed down from my Mom, and adjusted as necessary to the tastes and likes of my family. Everything evolves. Technically, Mom might not recognize my Thanksgiving feast as hers, but she would certainly observe the influence and nuances of hers. I do enjoy thinking of her, her culinary teachings, and simply being with her in her kitchen whenever I am in my kitchen transforming groceries into our Thanksgiving feast.
We are having Maple Garlic Turkey Breast, cornbread stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole with cream of bacon soup and the crunchy onions, cranberry jelly, Hawaiian rolls, and a pumpkin cake I haven’t tried yet and mean to try.
I love Thanksgiving, largely because I love to cook, but also because of the very notion the day – a day to give thanks, and to give thanks for the bounty in our lives. All the bounty – not just in the amount of food to be consumed, but bounty in gratefulness for all the wonderful things in your life. A day to be aware of the precious moments and remember the precious times. A day to long for the ones who are absent, but to be thankful for the influence they contributed to your life. A day to be happy with the ones present and to be thankful for the reasons you are together. The feast is but a symbol of the bounty of blessings we all enjoy every day. It is a great reason to celebrate and give conscious thought to remember and reflect on the bounty in your life.
I have long found that a positive attitude begets a positive outlook. If you make it a habit to think of something you are thankful for or anything that makes you smile every day, you’ll be surprised at the number of days where you have to pick and choose among a number of things in your life that give you reason to be thankful. Make it a habit and I promise your outlook will improve. Look for the positive, be grateful, be thankful for the little things that make you smile.
May everyone that this wish reaches, enjoy wonderful bounty as you all gather for a traditional feast whether large or small, giving thanks for all things large and small. Happy Thanksgiving.
