It’s that time of year again when it is on everyone’s mind. Every time we turn on the TV or walk into the grocery store. Even just driving down the road, there are reminders everywhere. Christmas is just around the corner and the high shopping season is upon us.
What ever happened to Thanksgiving?
You remember that holiday when we are supposed to gather with our families, eat a large meal and talk about what we are thankful for. Ideally one of the things that we are thankful for is that family around the table. That isn’t always true – in which case you can go and find a family that will work for you. We should be thankful for the food we are eating too, which again isn’t always the case. Especially for children who don’t like green bean casserole yet find it oozing into their mashed potatoes. This is one meal where all the “should”s should be of the table.
What I find though is that there is no break between Halloween and Christmas. Two great retail holidays. And the holiday in the middle gets shorted in popular media. And now, if you are to believe everything you hear online, some stores are barely even acknowledging Thanksgiving at all. On a day that used to be so sacred that only the professional football players had to work, we now find that other businesses aren’t even bothering to wait for the date change.
In honor of the holiday we almost forget, here is my list of things that I’m thankful for:
* My family – This should go without saying, but I’ll say it anyway. I love my Mom, Grandma, brother, sister-in-law, nieces and nephews. I don’t always agree with them, heck I don’t always get along with them, but I know that without them I wouldn’t be the person that I am without them.
* My husband – he is my center, my nemesis, the one I can say almost anything to. He keeps me honest even when I don’t want to and he is my live in tech support. Oh yeah, and I love him even when he is being a dork.
* My kitties – They are the comic relief in our lives. Even when they are waking me up before the alarm because they want breakfast, they do it so cutely that it’s hard to get mad at them. They are cute and cuddly at times and wild and wacky at other times.
* My job – I have a good job that pays the bills (mostly). More importantly, my job is important in a way that makes it really clear that I’m doing something that the people I work with really and truly need. I even like most of my co-workers which is saying something.
* The writing community here in the Twin Cities – There are an incredible group of writers living and writing in and around the twin cities. While I don’t know all of them (or even half of them) the support that comes from being around so many people doing the same kind of thing is incredible.
* The supportive community I’ve found online – I have to admit that I never thought that I would be thankful for social media, but I have found friends and acquaintances on G+ who really make me think while pushing the edges of my world out just a little further.
* The voters of Minnesota – we managed to defeat two very divisive constitutional amendments that would have changed life in my home state to something I’m not sure I could live with. But logic prevailed and we chose not to encode hate in our constitution and not give the legislature a blank check to make whatever kinds of restrictions to voting that they really didn’t need to have.
This isn’t a complete list, but you don’t really need to know everything. I hope you all have a happy and thankful day, week, month. Hug someone you love and enjoy the life you have been given.
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