I understand stuffing your face with, well, stuffing. It’s yummy. And you gotta have the turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes with
gobs of butter, pumpkin pie… But Thanksgiving goes something like this: jam food in your mouth, watch football games, and get together with family you can’t stand. (Or maybe you actually like them—lucky you.)
There’s not a hell of a lot of thanks going on. I am not feeling the love, you know? I get that we’re not out hunting and harvesting our crops so we don’t gather around the table in appreciation of a bountiful harvest but we can still be thankful for something.
If you think about it, I know you can come up with one or two things you are grateful for. I just know you can.
More and more stores are selling decor with “Give Thanks”, “Be Grateful”, and “Happy Harvest” for Thanksgiving. I like it. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. Like a wicked soft sweater. Hey! That’s something right there. Soft, non-itchy sweaters. See? Easy.
Those simple statements say so much. Give thanks and be grateful, gentle readers.
P.S. If you’re feeling in the spirit of all that is good and covered in gravy, leave a comment with one thing you’re grateful for. Pick something, anything, and be thankful for it.
My Sunday thoughts in 200 words or less.
Lemon Shark 
Well…I get the majority of my veggies and nearly all of my meat and eggs right from the farm, so you bet your sweet bippy (whatever that my be) that I’m grateful for a bountiful harvest. 🙂
I’m also very grateful to have a friend like you.
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I’m not exactly sure what a “bippy” is or even if it is a real thing but it sure sounds good when you say “you bet your sweet bippy”. Words are fun. 🙂 I’m grateful for words — real or not.
I’ll not be envious that you get fresh food while I pull frozen chicken nuggets out of the freezer. No. Instead, I will be happy you have an actual harvest to be grateful for. And I am also grateful for you.
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It was always just the Hub and the kids and perhaps a neighbor or someone I knew had no place to go. Times were always tough around the holidays before Todd and went back to school. I often got laid off as a waitress due to the end of tourist season (in Montana) and he got laid off from logging due to snow. We were grateful, desperately so, for the food. Flash forward to abundant times and we were living with three teens in Minnesota where we knew no one except for the Hub’s aunt and uncle who were not really nice people. We went one year to his cousin’s house and the Hub’s aunt complained that we made their table too crowded and told us we’d have to sit by ourselves in the living room. I roared at the Hub, never again! We returned to our small Thanksgiving and it grew into visiting college roommates, spouses and their families. This year, it’s just the Hub and me and I was selfishly looking forward to having an entire turkey to ourselves after the past years of huge mobs of hungry college kids. Then I met a neighbor and her husband works the oil fields so she’s out here alone with her daughter. Yup, they are coming over! My one bad experience with nasty family taught me that this holiday is too precious to spend on ungrateful people and yet also to precious not to invite the grateful over! Have a lovely holiday and take ownership of it! ❤
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I love this, Charli. All those memories of a full table (both good and bad) are lovely to have. How beautiful it is that you include those who have no where to go or will be eating alone. If only we could extend this to the whole year — our whole lives. ❤ Life is too precious to spend on ungrateful people and too precious to not invite grateful people into it. Wouldn't that be amazing?
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I was going for something glib (what me?!) when I read Charli’s above. I’m grateful those I care for are still breathing. So trite instead. But true. And the glib? That this thanksgiving I don’t have to pretend to like a side of sweet potatoes cranberry and marshmallows like I did last year.
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You surprised me with your intent of responding with something glib. Good thing you found something completely unoriginal, instead. And quite worthy of a gratitude shout-out, I might add.
That side dish sounds disgusting. You can be grateful you kept it down.
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The recent posts by Anne Goodwin and Charli Mills re World Toilet Day make me very grateful for toilets and clean water.
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Wonderful. 🙂 You should check out Charity: Water if you haven’t already. An amazing organization.
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Thanks for sharing that. It is amazing. 🙂
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Never thought I’d hear myself saying this, but I’m thankful for social media. I’ve met so many terrific people I would never have known otherwise, and the fact is, in my “real” life I’m far too busy to spend much time socializing, anyway. And ever since my book came out, I have readers tweeting to me about it, which is freakin’ awesome. I love that direct contact and what’s really neat is the way readers seem inspired to share their own terrible stories. I mean, I’m sorry they have stories like that to share, but usually they seem so grateful to connect with someone who has had similar experiences that it’s deeply rewarding. So this year I’ll be blessing the internet while I’m poking at the turkey and wishing it were a burrito 😉
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I have a love/hate relationship with social media. It’s nice to hear someone so positive about it. Grateful for it even. If I think about it, I have met some people on here that I am genuinely grateful for. And I love that your book gives others a feeling of connection and a chance to share their stories (which is something they may not have done otherwise).
P.S. Bring a burrito with you. Just an idea.
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Our Thanksgiving tradition is actually to hold a special Monday lesson the week of and discuss gratitude, then on Thanksgiving we all go around the table and list things we’re grateful for. I heard of one tradition I want to get into with a tablecloth that appears every year when people write what they’re thankful for, their name and the year. Can you imagine that? Every year pulling out the table cloth and seeing what you wrote the previous year?
Unleashing the Dreamworld
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Oh! I love the tablecloth idea! I am so doing that!
We have lessons all week, too, about gratitude. My kids also make gratitude trees (drawing a bare tree, cutting out construction paper leaves, writing things they’re thankful for, and gluing then on branches). These make an awesome decoration and we get to look at what they were grateful for in previous years.
We also spend this week donating — animal shelters, food pantries, homeless shelters, etc. It’s nice to imagine your family taking turns listing what they are grateful for while sitting around the table. ❤
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Love this, Sarah. I also adore the journals and wall hangings that encourage gratitude. Paper Source is one of my favorite places to shop for that reason.
I am thankful that I will spend Thanksgiving with the people that matter the most to me.
As a daily gratitude reminder, I’ve created a happiness jar for our family. Every evening or (sometimes at the end of the week) we identify on a slip of paper what made us happy or grateful. I’d like to encourage gratitude as a daily practice for myself and my daughter.
Happy Thanksgiving! Glad I’ve intersected with your words.
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Oooh… I’ll have to check out Paper Source. I do love the gratitude decor. I don’t remember it being around when I was little.
That is a beautiful thing to be thankful for. ❤ And I love, love, love the idea of the gratitude jar. We have RAK papers but the jar is more consistent (and has a different focus). I'm starting one of those!
Thank you so much. Same and Happy Thanksgiving to you, too. 🙂
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I’m thankful we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving in the UK – Christmas is already more than enough!
But seriously, there’s research to show that recognising the things for which we are grateful contributes to our well-being. I like feeling grateful for the small things in life (this misty morning I’m pleased that I can see at least some green through my window) but I like that gratitude to come from the inside, not so keen on a dedicated day for this kind of thing, but I do recognise in the US it’s worth going back to the roots of this holiday.
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Ha! That’s a fantastic thing to be grateful for. That you don’t have to celebrate it. 😀 I am really not into the whole “be thankful on this day” either because my family tries to focus on gratitude daily. (I’m not all that sure about celebrating the roots of this holiday, either. Just not sure.)
I’m not surprised by that research at all. When will this catch on?
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I wrote last year about my Thanksgivings. We don’t celebrate it here in England so I learnt all about it through my son’s eyes when he started Kindergarten. I took on the whole Thanksgiving feast thing when I lived there, cooking an entire meal by myself when I was was nine months pregnant with my second son. I must have been completely nuts. EH (ex husband) worked for the Dept of Corrections and it was years before he got decent shifts so it was often just me and the kids alone at the holidays. Yet, there were always friends who shared their Thanksgivings with us and I’m so grateful for that. Now we don’t celebrate it but I’ve got my boys coming home this weekend for his birthday and I can’t wait (I haven’t seen them since early October). So I’m grateful for that…bring it on! And I do wish you Sarah, a very Happy Thanksgiving 🙂
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Thank you!
I read about your little ones (now big) returning home to celebrate. I hope you had a wonderful visit. 🙂 So much to be grateful for. That makes me happy.
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Thank you so much Sarah…we did indeed have a wonderful weekend and now I get to look forward to seeing them again at Christmas 🙂 Keep happy and keep smiling 🙂 ❤
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