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Thursday, November 28, 2013

Happy Thanksgiving!



I like the holiday. What's not to like about getting together with family and friends and enjoying a good meal.

Mostly though, I like the idea of taking time out of our busy lives to be thankful. We don't pause to count our blessings often enough. People focus on what they lack instead of what they have. As for me, the most important things in my life are not things at all. They are family, friends, relationships, and the love in my life.

The pause for thanks is short lived. Black Friday has encroached right into Thursday. The meal isn't even cleared off the table and people are running out to go shopping. So much for being thankful for what we already have.

The commercial world must be pretty disappointed with the Thanksgiving holiday. We buy a turkey, maybe some yams and a pumpkin pie and that's about it. There's not a lot of room for spending growth.

Christmas, on the other hand, is a different story. There are no spending limits. No wonder every effort is made to extend the shopping season. Retailers wring their hands in despair when the Thanksgiving holiday falls later in the month. Black Friday comes later, potentially reducing peak shopping days. It's no wonder that Christmas shopping ads began to appear right after Halloween.

It probably won't come to anyone's surprise that I won't be doing any Black Friday shopping. In fact, since my lovely wife and I are traveling this year, little shopping will be done at all. Nope, instead of Black Friday shopping, we'll be celebrating national leftover turkey sandwich day. Sure beats the heck out of a crazy day of shopping.

So take a few moments and give thanks. Contemplate how just being alive is a great gift. Everything else is just stuff.

-Sixbears

17 comments:

  1. Amen, my friend, and may your Thanksgiving be both thankful and BLESSED!

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  2. Yes and it seems to me that the world is stuffed...

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  3. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family! You are right - family ad friends are the most important.

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  4. Have a peaceful Thanksgiving and know that not all of us have to shop. Mine's done and, unless I absolutely have to get something in particular, stores (especially the Evil Empire Walmart) will not see me until after the first of the year.

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    1. We aren't doing much shopping at all this year.

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  5. Happy Thanksgiving to you, Cindy and your father! Hope you all have a nice holiday!

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  6. I assume you will be having Thanksgiving with your dad. We all should be very thankful for anything we have but especially for being alive to enjoy it.

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    1. Yes we did. I did most of the cooking. We have much to be thankful for.

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  7. Happy Thanksgiving to all of y'all. I really is nice to have a day to catch your breath, and think of all the blessings in our lives. My only Black Friday shopping will be to Kroger to get some ginger for baking. Can't think of anything else I need. God is good.

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  8. Replies
    1. Thanks Mamma Bear! Hope yours was a good one too.

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  9. Yep, just stuff. Had a great day myself, and sounds like y'all did too. I will "celebrate" Black Friday by sitting at the house and laughing at all those morons out there snarled up in traffic and fighting over the last widget...

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    1. I think I'll work on my boat. Should be a good day for it. I don't even want to drive out there today.

      Glad you had a good one too!

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