Shift the Focus–Thanksgiving

20 Nov 2011 4 Comments

I was laying here thinking about Thanksgiving as it is fast approaching and Thanksgivings past. No, no ghosts showed up but I got to thinking about what Thanksgiving meant to the first pilgrims and how much it has changed. Now, Thanksgiving represents the holidays and the BIG sales and cooking more food than an army needs and family fights and traveling to family events. It is a time of overeating, football, running to sales and spending money and self-indulgence.

I remember all the family around the huge dining room table and as we grew the kids were sent to another table. Then all the men folks went to watch the football game while the women cleaned up and put away left overs. The buffet had so many foods that if you took one bite of everything, your plate was full. We had Turkey, dressing, gravy, potato casserole, green bean casserole, fruit salad, rolls and other dishes and then there were all the different pies and cakes for dessert.

And for many, the holiday is about the black Friday sales and getting up at the crack of dawn and rushing from store to store to get all the “bargains” and spend, spend, spend.

And so, I was thinking about what this day meant to our ancestors. It was being thankful they were alive…that they survived and that they had just a small amount of food and a place to live. When did we change to all the extravagance and over indulgence? When did we lose sight of what it really means.

This year I am thankful for many things. I am thankful for my home. It might be a small cottage but it is so filled with love and joy and comfort. I am thankful for my son who takes care of me and my other son back east and his family and Sweetpea. I am thankful for my Jack. I am thankful for Mama and family/friends like Sassy and BOS, who love me so much and who support me and care about me. I am thankful for finally getting moved on this side of the mountain. I am thankful for the wonderful doctors I now have and all the care they are giving me. I am thankful I am still alive with all my health issues and I am thankful that some big issues will be taken care of. I am thankful we made it another year. I am thankful for my faith and the simplicity of my life.

We plan on cooking a small hen, dressing, green beans and a pumpkin pie and sharing it together. Son will be the chef and I get to enjoy. Nothing extravagant but being together. Son loves for the cooking to be done on Thanksgiving Day, especially the pumpkin pie and that will be my job. He loves to smell the pie cooking. Just a small simple meal together and eating it on our pretty red dishes at our dining table. Our FIRST Thanksgiving in our new town and our new home.

We plan on getting up and turning on the parade and watching it while preparing the food and just enjoying each others company. Son put up Christmas lights and the tree for me so that I could enjoy before surgery, so we will have those on to fill our house with beautiful light. No plans for big sales. No plans to go shopping. Just being in our home together and enjoying each other’s company..calling Mama and loved ones to wish them a Happy Thanksgiving and being thankful for all that the Lord has given us.

We have been so blessed in spite of the hard times we have gone through and the biggest blessing is we are in a home, warm, with enough food and happy. What more could we ask for?

To me, Thanksgiving is a time to say Thank You….thank you to our Creator for all He has done for us……. thank you to our loved ones for loving us……thank you to those who bring smiles to our faces…thank you to those who send notes of love and encouragement and care to us…thank you to special friends for sharing their lives with us…thank you to yourself for fighting hard to make it one more year….thank you to the Postal Server for braving all sorts of bad weather to bring us our mail, thank you to the Policemen and Deputies that protect us, thank you to the Firemen who risk their lives to save us and the EMT’s that rush to help us when injured or sick…thank you to the garbage men who haul our trash off…thank you to the radio stations for playing us that lovely music and the tv channels that entertain us…and thank you to the employer who hired us even when times were tough or stuck by us when times were tough and kept us on…and the list goes on.

THANKSGIVING

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