What is Thanksgiving?

It was brought to my attention that Black Friday begins on Thanksgiving night. On my local news I saw people in Florida already camped out in front of stores. As of this writing, Black Friday is still five days away. I have never participated in Black Friday and never will. It goes against the basic principles of my life.

The coming Holidays are a busy and stressful time for most people. Starting right after Halloween the rush starts for Thanksgiving and Christmas. People pull out totes and boxes of Thanksgiving decorations. Individuals run to the store to purchase colorful stuffed turkey's, fall baskets with fake leaves to put on their table, tablecloths that feature typical Thanksgiving designs. You walk into their houses and you can tell Thanksgiving is here. I can appreciate the decorations and the holiday festivities. But, I think something important got lost in the translation of it all. The meaning of Thanksgiving.

Originally, Thanksgiving was a day to give Thanks for a successful crop, typically corn. It was a day for the Plymouth Colonists to give Thanks to the Native American's for all they were taught. It was a day to give Thanks for making it another year, it was a day to share what The Lord blessed the colonists with.  It was a day to give Thanks. It would be my guess that is why it is called Thanksgiving.

In our life, Thanksgiving and Christmas are not a mad rush. It is now the Sunday before Thanksgiving and our daily life has not changed. Tomorrow I am going to purchase the turkey and all the fixings to go with it. That will be the extent of our rush until November 24th when our annual Thanksgiving meal will be cooked. We are blessed to be able to spend it with our kids, a few friends and hopefully some of our family. Our decorations are made out of construction paper that our children made and we tape them on the wall. That is the extent of our decorations. If it sounds simple, that is because it is. The holidays weren't meant to put more stress into our lives, they are meant to remind of what we are thankful for.

This year I am Thankful for the the relationship I share with The Lord who has blessed me with my wonderful family, the health that we all have and the life I have been blessed with. I am Thankful to have a loving family, outside of my husband and children, who I can count on and give me joy. I am thankful to have a few good friends who help me through my trials and tribulations.