Gobble Till You Wobble...

There was a post that was put up on Facebook about when is it too early to listen to Christmas music... Christmas and Easter are my favorite holidays of the year... They focus on Christ and it is the one time of the year that people think it is great to listen to the birth of Christ and why He died for our sins... This post got my brain into the thinking mode... What about Thanksgiving?

It feels like Thanksgiving has been drowning in the commercialism of Christmas... Then we should be thankful all year around... But in reality, most people are too busy with life to remember... They are buried under bills, work and wishful thinking, we forget to take the time to see what things have good along with the bad... Even being thankful at Thanksgiving is hard for many...

Today when I see images of Thanksgiving it is different then how it use to be... People will stuff themselves like a turkey because that is what is expected of them because it is traditional... What I have noticed too is that there seems to always be that one person that is given the chore of cleaning up while everyone else goes and watches TV, plays video games or takes a nap... It seem's like the time of sitting around the table and remembering things and people of the past are long gone... Now, after the "family meal", we sit idly in a chair at the dining room table, feeling bloated, listening to people grumbling over who is going to clean up and screams from the living room over a bad pass...

Now, granted non of us in our right mind would want to give thanks for the bad things going on in our lives such as added debt, medical problems, loss of life and so on... Maybe you are feeling alone and things there doesn't seem to be much you are thankful for... That is unless you are looking forward to being alone and having a you day...

I don't think that the solution should be to throw Thanksgiving away... Make your Thanksgiving a time for family and friends where you enjoy being together ... Maybe we can keep Thanksgiving as a time where we can celebrate what good things we do have, and think about what good we would like in our future. Make Thanksgiving what you want it to be...

Here are some suggestions to make your Thanksgiving your Thanksgiving...

• Don't over stuff yourself, make a simple meal... 
• Invite a friend who's alone to have dinner with you... 
• Help serve meals at Dixie Care and Share or a homeless shelter near you... 
• After dinner go out for a walk and enjoy the people and nature around you... 
• Play games together as a family... Turn off the TV... 

There are other ways you can be "think" about being "thankful" all through the year... Here are some ways that you can volunteer... 

• Volunteer at a homeless shelter or soup kitchen... 
• Read to children in a school reading program or at the library...
• Help out at your local hospital... They are always looking for volunteers
• Help out or just visit lonely people at a nursing home...
• If you belong to a church, join a group there...

So to all of you, no matter what your traditions maybe, enjoy the day, the food, but most of all your loved ones...  I will be doing another blog on things that I am thankful for... But for now, I wanted to get you all into the mood and ready for the idea of having a Happy Thanksgiving without all the commercialism of Christmas... But I have a secret... I'm waiting for Thanksgiving to be over and then I can put up my Christmas stuff... For now... Thanksgiving is on my brain...