let the holidays begin

It is that time of year. Ok, so anticipation began at the end of last month with Halloween, but the holidays really begin this week with Thanksgiving. Although the Canadians also celebrate a Thanksgiving holiday, it is on a different day. Thanksgiving, like the Fourth of July, are uniquely American celebrations. Holidays in the modern sense of the word (woo hoo we don't have to go to work!) instead of the original sense of the word - Holy day (woo hoo we get to go to church!). It is one of the few holidays that has stayed less commercial. Well, except for the part where you buy food to prepare for the feast, or have to pay the tab else where. Oh, sure there are cards, and hostess gifts you can get. Decorations that you have to store somewhere all the rest of the year, but it - thankfully - isn't a big candy day.

It is, however, followed by the biggest shopping day of the year: black Friday. As I've mentioned before, this is a shopping day I avoid. Like the plague. We'll probably have to go to the grocery store about one more time to get the last minute items, and stuff we want to be very fresh, but the mall is not on my list this week at all.

I've done a bit of my holiday shopping already, thanks to online shopping, mostly. I'm well into my holiday crafting for the year. Yay me. Holiday crafting is something I really enjoy. One of the high points of the holidays for me. I've made disks of pictures for the grandparents. I got ink so that I could make labels for the disks, and print pictures onto magnets. I need to search for the Christmas cards I bought last year to use this year, and get them in the works as well.

Just remember, in the hectic, frantic, too many people, too much to do and not enough time that the holidays can be... I'll remember to be thankful. Thankful for loved family and friends. Thankful for a good place to live, and good people to live with. Thankful that I have the where-with-all to make a good feast, and put presents under a tree. Thankful that the seasons follow each other, and that even in the winteryest winter, there is hope of spring to come. I'm thankful that the sun rises each morning and brings light and warmth, and that I get to see it, and feel it and enjoy it. Thankful that I can go for a walk and hug my daughter, and my husband, and yeah, even my brother. Here's hoping you have a bunch to be thankful for, too.