Thanksgiving Sabbath

Thanksgiving is over for another year and once again, I am amazed at just how quickly the time passes. This year really seems to be flying by for me. Now that Thanksgiving is past, all thoughts turn towards Christmas and what will seem like the blink of an eye another holiday will be upon us. Today is Sabbath and in less than four weeks Christmas will be here. I love Thanksgiving because I enjoy reflecting upon my many blessings and get together with friends and family and enjoy some of the simple pleasures in life, including our homes, good food and good conversation with people I love.

So many times though, I anticipate and look forward to how nice everything will be and when the actual event takes place, I feel somewhat deflated and let down that it's over so quickly and maybe, somehow the actual event didn't live up to my expectations. This is something that I have struggled with over much of my life. I always try to just relax, take things as they come and have no expectations. But alas, I can't seem to help it. Having an extraordinarily overactive imagination and vivid imagery of mind seems to be more of a downfall rather than a benefit for me. I always imagine a cozy and intimate setting with the dinner table set with our best dishes and pretty candles and maybe a centerpiece of greens and beautifully colored fruit. Everyone is sitting down around the crowded table and one of the men of the family carves the beautifully prepared turkey while all the other dishes are passed around and people ooh and ahh over the delectables we are so blessed to be about to enjoy. Everyone is relaxed and enjoying the comfortable familiarity of family.

I did enjoy the holiday and being with my family, but we never seem to take the time to really sit down and listen to one another and talk about what's been going on in our seperate lives. We somehow seem to be more like a bunch of strangers gathered in familiar surroundings practiceing small talk and telling bad jokes with everyone and trying to be heard above the roar. I'm not quite sure of what I'm trying to say here. My family is not perfect, none of us are. But we seem to lack any kind of spirituality and genuine thankfulness for anything. Sometimes I even wonder if we really do love one another or if we just get together because we think we should, or are supposed to. That sounds really bad, I know and I'm not sure where I'm going, but times are so different now. We lack the closeness that all of us once shared. Maybe I'm just missing my mom and my dad and the way our family used to be.

Maybe I'm missing the way the world used to be. Times were simpler when I was a kid, or at least they sure seemed that way. Everything's so different now, people are even afraid of saying Merry Christmas to someone for fear of offending them. I guess we're supposed to say "Happy Holidays" instead. Or, take a Christmas tree for example, is it politically correct to call it a Christmas tree - or should we cover our bets and refer to it as a "Holiday tree"? Whatever happened to us? Somewhere along the way, our American family and our unique and very American traditions, our very way of life has changed. We seem to be trying to be everything to everyone these days...and somewhere along the way, we've lost ourselves and our uniqueness in the process. Our American traditions.

Well, at the risk of offending someone somewhere, I want to state for the record that I am a soon-to-be forty nine year old American woman who believes in God and in Jesus Christ and I celebrate Christmas because it is the set-aside day to remember the birth of my Lord and Savior. I put up a Christmas tree and decorate it because it's a symbol of my family's tradition and because it smells good and because it's pretty. That's it, pure and simple and if somebody somewhere doesn't like it...I don't really give a rat's ass. I'm not trying to please all of the people everywhere. It's my tradition, period. Celebrate whatever it is you want to celebrate, I don't care. And we always have and always will call it what it is - our Christmas tree. So there! I also mail out Christmas cards to my friends and family - not holiday greetings - Christmas greetings.

I heard on the news yesterday that a mob of shoppers in a Wal-Mart in New York state trampled an employee in a mob rush. Can you believe that?? That is tragic and unbelievable. For what? So they might be able to save $10 bucks on some piece of junk to give to someone who really doesn't need it in the first place? What has happened to the people in this world? I am ashamed when I see stuff like that. What is going on? I wish everyone of those stupid bargain hunting shoppers would be held liable for the death of that person. Might make some other people stop and think about what's really important in this life; and what's not. I guess they call it Black Friday for a reason. I think it's a disgrace and it makes me ashamed of where we as a race of supposedly civilized people are headed.

Well, I'll shut up and get off my soap box once again. I'm just saying that I think it's time we start taking into account where our values lie and what's really important in life. You get just one shot at it folks. That's it, there are no second chances. I want to be a good person, or at least the best person that I'm capable of being. I am not saying that I'm perfect - quite the opposite - I have so many flaws that it would take an hour just to try and list them, but I have my faith and my values and I know what's really important. I'm not saying that it's easy to stand on those values; quite the contrary - the current flows very strongly in the opposite direction. But when my life is over and it's too late to change my path, I at least want to be able to look at myself in the mirror and know without a doubt that I never lived my life based on what "people" thought of me. I am very proud to admit that I am not a politically correct person. If I have offended anyone, well you'll just have to get over it. I really don't give a damn.

I hope that all of you enjoyed your Thanksgiving and time spent with the ones you love.

Blessings, Cingspots