Thanksgiving

This is the time of year when we stop and give thanks. Well, the idea is to stop and give thanks. If you watch any television, Thanksgiving is for making the table look as pretty as possible and getting your "game plan" plan ready for Black Friday. Each of the children have asked me "What is Black Friday Mama?" I have never been a Black Friday shopper, nor did I grow up being taught to be a Black Friday shopper much less a shopper. Three of the last four Thanksgivings Scott has been deployed to the Middle East. Once while he was gone, I thought I would give this special Friday a try. Not again and not with two children. Yes, you can get some great deals, if you go out at 3 am and yes I am sure some folks can finish their Christmas shopping. From the ads I have seen the things on sale are things I want, not really things I would give as presents. Maybe that is the idea. Come to our big sales, come buy things for yourself! Go farther into debt, its okay, its for Christmas.

Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks for the year, the harvest, the food we are eating. Thanksgiving is not running to Old Navy at midnight because their Frost free jackets are $15. I saw a news report that brought tears to my eyes. One food bank at a church was seeing record numbers this year. An elderly couple who had been donors for many many years called the food bank director asking if they could be receivers this year. They each lost their part time jobs and due to some unseen circumstances were finding it hard to make ends meet. Stories like this one are all over. Families who normally gave are the receivers.

I look around at all the wonderful things to be thankful for. I am thankful for my awesome children, my wonderful husband, terrific friends, my family who love me, my health, a roof over my head, being able to live in the Great State of Alaska, the list goes on. I tell the children to think of things to be thankful for. I hear things like, my PSP, my dog, mama and daddy. Then I tell them to look around and to think. Think about even with its faults, we live in a wonderful country where folks can worship freely, read our bibles, THANK GOD for all the things He has allowed us to have and not be thrown in jail for saying we don't agree with the President or for saying we Love Jesus. We can be thankful for the beautiful trees that give us oxygen and recycle our carbon dioxide. We can be thankful for the folks around us, even if we don't know them. If things are not going that well for you this year and you think there is nothing you can be thankful for, I urge you to start small, are you breathing? Are you wearing a shirt, pants? Are you in a place out of the elements? So, this year it may not be ideal, your husband is deployed and you have bronchitis or things look bleak. Look outside yourself, start small and you will see so many things to be thankful for.This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for you! My friends. You make me smile, you make me laugh, you warm my heart. I won't be going at midnight or 3am or probably at all on Black Friday to shop. We are staying as a family with Scott at home. If you can't give money, or things this year try to give yourself. Be there for someone who needs you, offer help to a single mother, recycle clothes (hand me downs), be a mentor, not just at Thanksgiving but all year long.

With a Thankful heart,
Angela
Happy Thanksgiving my friends.