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Welcome All! I'm a dreamer, I hope you are too! A Posse ad Esse, or From possibility to reality, is a general state of mind. I hope you'll share your possibilities with me as I will with you. Namaste~

November 7, 2008

Am I missing something?

Is it just me or did we skip a holiday? Last I checked after Halloween and before Christmas we used to have this other holiday...Um, yeah, Thanksgiving or something like that wasn't it? What happened, did they cancel it this year?

No, I guess technically they didn't, but perhaps you've noticed the same thing as me and that is that we shifted straight from Halloween to Christmas. Actually, let me qualify that statement, the world around us seems to have gone from Halloween to Christmas, not us. We really love Thanksgiving and thoroughly look forward to enjoying it with a lot of family around us this year.

The thing is, since literally the morning after Halloween, we've been seeing advertisements for Christmas shopping, hearing Christmas music on the radio, and seeing Christmas splattered all over the stores and the newspaper ads. It really does look like the week after Thanksgiving. I can't help feeling like we're just getting sucked from one gimme holiday to another. If you really take the celebration of Halloween in the US and break it down, doesn't it really come down to a holiday where we think about getting. I mean yeah, there are a lot of adults out there who really love Halloween and that's cool, but as far as I can tell, it more or less comes down to parents buying their kids costumes and those kids going out and threatening their neighbors with pranks if they don't get candy. I kid of course, to illustrate, but you get my point. And then Christmas, well if a retail business does get into the black around Christmas then they never will. It's all about the getting too. How many times are people asked "What do you want to give for Christmas?"

So I ask you, what does it say about society right now, when in the midst of poor economic times, we are so easily led from gimme candy to gimme presents and pass up the "Thanks for all I already have" in between them? Pretty sad huh? Now I know without doubt that most if not all of the people reading this are probably real big Thanksgivingers. It just tends to go with the territory when you attract a lot of foodie, homesteading, green living folks that Thanksgiving seems to be a big deal. Here's the thing, we're all susceptible to getting caught up in "The World" and it's directions. Make your plans, both for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and do what needs to be done for both. But try to keep Thanksgiving in your heart this month. Now more than ever, I think, we need to be mindful of all our blessings, be Thankful for all we have and share it when we can with others that may be having tight times. Don't let our one big Giving holiday get marketed away.

Peace friends.
P~

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I saw an idea just this past week that really appealed to me regarding Thanksgiving. Make (and decorate of course) a small box as the Thanksgiving Box. Throughout the year, have the whole family make notes about what they are thankful for and place them in the box. On Thanksgiving, pull out the little notes and read them out loud. What an excellent conversation builder and way to remember events from throughout the year!

jayedee said...

here in florida, they've even seemed to bypass halloween. christmas decorations and such have been on display at a local walmart since mid october!

Anonymous said...

Wonderful post p. Didi I mention that Thanksgiving is my favorite? :)

Anonymous said...

Excellent reminder!!! Inspite of hard times even, we have SO MUCH to be thankful for!!! Keep that focus. tp By the way, what are you reading lately?????????????

heather said...

thanksgiving is my favorite holiday! i love the question "what would you like to give this year?" i think i'm borrowing that one... ;)

have a great weekend

Anonymous said...

It seems like a successful holiday means that Sales are up and Profits are up, at least according to the news. I guess I take it a different way and look at a successful holiday as spending time together with my family and and remembering what I have to be thankful for.

I also share your opinion of Halloween. The good news is we get to set the tone of the holidays in our own homes. After such a great harvest this summer in our garden, Thanksgiving will mean a bit mroe this year (and hopefully taste better too!)

Phelan said...

I love Halloween! It is my favorite holiday. The problem is, is that is no longer about community like it use to be.

What do you want to give for Christmas?

I ask my boys that before I ask them what they want to get. We hand make gifts, and even though Thanksgiving has yet to come, we have start our Christmas gift making today. It takes time to make things, ya know.

Mrs Flam said...

i noticeed that at my big box mart the other day , other people were also gasping in unveleif at the gint wreath and christmas tree at the big box mart entrance 2 days after halloween. where's the turkey was my question ? what happened to thanksgiving , the after thanksgiving sales are my favorite , turkeys 15 cents a lb , 4 for a dollar stuffing , hah we just finished the last of the turkey 2 months ago ....

Anonymous said...

I agree with you completely. It's really sickening how they've turned my religious holiday into a huge greed-fest.

I like Thanksgiving. It's not as big here as this is a heavily Native American state, where a lot of people are conflicted on the whole Thanksgiving thing, but I like the idea of a day to give thanks and spend time with my family.

joelevi said...

Happy "Native America Genocide Day!"

Sorry to be the wet sheet, many "American Indians" or "Native Americans" (such as myself) feel that if our forefathers hadn't held the first Thanksgiving, we might not have gone through the culling and near extermination that the settlers forced upon the native peoples.

Another common sentiment among native peoples is that our proverbial olive branch and welcoming gesture that was the First Thanksgiving was not reciprocated by the white settlers, and was answered with deceit and (despite what is force-fed to our children in public schools).

Anyhow, not trying to put a damper on anyone's holiday celebrations, just bringing up another point of view.

- www.JoeLevi.com