Ah! Thanksgiving...then Christmas shopping, and Christmas itself, and New Years! Isn't it wonderful? I know that for many of us, this is not the first thing that comes to mind...but why? This Holiday season, don't let the thought send you into a tizzy, dreading all there is to do, go get, run to find, or arrange.Instead, stop and think. The Thanksgiving day will come..and go... no matter what you do, or don't do.Ready or not, the days will come. You will eat something, and so will your guests if you have any, and that does not depend upon everything being perfect. So you do the best you can without letting it all overwhelm you. If you have company coming,and your not sure you can handle it all, then either cross some things off your list, or ask your guests to come early and help you,or if possible, tell them I can cover this, if you can bring that. If everyone is involved in making the day nicer, it will be more fun anyway,and if anyone gets offended, then you probably don't need that lazy stuffed shirt in your life after all. This can be one of those acid tests to see just what kind of friends you have after all. Okay. That covers the food. Now, as to the traditions.Everyone has been party to one of those dinners where everyone is gathered around the table, their mouths watering, their stomachs growling and someone, usually Mom or Grandmother will say, " Let's go around the room, and everyone say what they are thankful for!" (GROAN!) Come on Grandma-ma! I for one would be eternally grateful if just once we dispensed with this trial of putting everyone on the spot, let Grampa carve the Bird, start passing the food, say the blessing...nice and short is best, and let those who have something to say, say it, and leave the rest of us alone to enjoy the luscious food! Let Dad lead off with a spontaneous toast for once, huh? How about that? Or even better, later, over dessert would be a much better time, because then the main cook just might be complemented for preparing the tremendous repast they have just all enjoyed.Now that is something to be thankful for.
And if you find yourself at loose ends for the Holiday, don't sweat it.If your alone,and you don't have a turkey, so be it.It is not, I stress Not really TURKEY DAY. It is Thanksgiving day.Eat what you like, slop around in your comfys, rare back, put your feet up, and watch the parade,and indulge yourself in that which makes you Thankful to be alive.If you don't allow yourself to get down because you're alone, you just might find this to be a very refreshing holiday.Just think. No throngs of people trampling your carpet, eating everything in sight and then leaving you with a mess to clean up later. No hoards of men in the den or family room screaming at the football game on television.No prying questions from aunt Tilly wanting to know why you aren't married, or if you are married, why him, or why don't you have oodles of kids! Consider this a break from that annoying relative who always manages to irritate you. If you think about it long enough, you are sure to come up with a thought that will put a smile on your face for the whole day!
Alright! It's the day after Thanksgiving, and the stores are geared up and ready for the masses of idiots ready to burst through the doors at the crack of dawn and begin their Christmas shopping.Unless your a true shop-a-holic, and you already have your shopping done, you will naturally want to do some Christmas shopping, but why do it on that very day? Myself, personally, I would rather take a beating than go near the Mall on black Friday. It's an insane, frenzied mess, and if you allow yourself to get caught up in it, you will find yourself spending more than you intended,taking more time than you expected, and end up coming home with a huge case of buyers remorse, a tension headache, bone weary and too tired to fix dinner...Unless, of course, this is your scene which you look forward to all year long, in which case, go for it! But if not, why put yourself through that? There are other days. Why not wait until the hysteria dies down a little bit, and take your time, doing your shopping in slow increments? After all, it's not as though everything not forbidden is mandatory! And, it's not like you're on the clock with this thing.Not like when I was a kid, when this whole thing got started. In my home town at that time, the Friday after Thanksgiving, we had five, count 'em, 5..theaters in the downtown.All the theaters would have this special deal for the kids.Beginning at 9 a.m. they would open their doors, and the kids got in free to see movies and cartoons, free popcorn, candy, and pop was provided, and we would get together in neighborhood groups, take the bus downtown and go from one theater to the next, all morning long, until 1:00 p.m.or noon, depending on the place's management. Most of us then took the bus back home, and we never tumbled to the fact that this was all cooked up with the merchants downtown to encourage our parents to do their Christmas shopping while we were safely off being entertained in the movie theaters.The merchants picked up the tab for the whole thing.The only money spent by us kids was the 20 cents it took for the bus...10 cents each way.It was a stroke of genius to come up with such a plan, and they would still be doing it today, if malls hadn't come along and killed the downtown stores, and then the theaters.And yet, the merchants still hang on to this notion that they have got to get you into the stores the first Friday after Thanksgiving. Why should you respond? I mean, it's not like they are providing any entertainment for your children, is it? No! Nor your babysitter either!
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Posted by: RONW | November 22, 2005 at 10:34 PM