A case for the celebration of Thanksgiving

I opened my inbox this morning to a flood of junk messages proclaiming Black Friday deals and Thanksgiving store hours.  A radio station here is already playing Christmas music.  And teaching about giving thanks on Thanksgiving to a bunch of kindergartners was a little difficult since 50% of them already had Christmas decor up at home.

So in this mad rush to Christmas, I think it best that a case be made to celebrate Thanksgiving.  True, the holiday is a nice opening ceremony to the Christmas season, but I'd argue that it has a bit more value than that.  And I know that other countries don't celebrate Thanksgiving and I know that our Thanksgiving has some questionable history in it's origins.  But I'm not sure any of that is a reason to skip this particular holiday.

Like I told my kindergartners, the purpose for the holiday is in it's name.  Thanksgiving -- to give thanks.  There is something to be said for a purposeful, intentional slowing of our lives with the sole goal of giving thanks.   I teach my children after all, say thank you prompting them throughout the day.
Naturally, the act of being thankful should be, ought to be, a daily, moment-by-moment act.  But the designation of a specific day to be thankful doesn't negate our daily thanks giving.  In the same way that celebrating a birthday doesn't negate the love we have for the person of honor but rather highlights, emphasizes that love, so too the celebration of thanks giving.

Here's why I love Thanksgiving.  It is the one holiday that doesn't pull on family to celebrate.  I don't have to juggle schedules and timetables; I don't have to worry about things being just so.  No one calls to ask about last minute gift ideas and I don't have to worry about making sure there is enough room in the car for all the loot.  The few days before Thanksgiving, I am able to spread out on my kitchen table all my beloved recipes and choose just the right ones for the celebrations. I spend time in my happy place, cooking with love for those I love.  And then on the day of celebration, all we do is spend time together.  We don't have a time table, other than a rough time for the meal to start.  There is no pretense, no fancy clothes or table linens.  Just good food, and lots of family.  So many opportunities to look around, in quiet or in cacophony, and give thanks. The kids aren't focused on themselves (any more than usual anyway).  They understand that the day is just to be thankful; in so many ways, is just to be. I always wish Thanksgiving was a multi-day celebration, wanting just one more day to just be, to sit and be thankful.

I think it's important to slow, pause, be thankful.  The season of advent starts a few days after Thanksgiving.  A time to purposefully prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ.  How better to start than by thanking the God of heaven.  To spend time doing nothing but being thankful.  Not asking for anything, not expecting anything.  Just saying thank you.  Just acknowledging that every thing is from above.

I started a thankful journal a while back. My goal was to get to 1000 things.  I never made it -- not because there aren't 1000 things but because the act of being always thankful is so contrary to our lives.  I keep returning to it, though.  Determined, committed to finding those 1000 things, to seeing my life through a lens of thanks.  I highly recommend you read 1000 Gifts by Ann Voskamp; let her lead you into thanksgiving.  Actually read it twice, as a review I read said, it's red meat -- give it some time to digest.

So this week, despite my mind already swirling with the demands of the holiday season, I'm going to purposefully pause, intentionally quiet and give thanks.  When the din of dinner is all around, I'm going to let me mouth be silent and offer a prayer of thanksgiving.  For the good, for the bad, for all.  Because from Him comes all because of nothing but love.  And for that I am forever thankful.

How I did in school after disney

Hi it's me Jack again. I had a hard time getting started on school, because I just got back from 8 days of          fun at disney. I forgot about some things while I was at disney. Some subjects were easy to start. Math was the hardest to get started on, because I forgot some fraction rules. I fought through all the forgotten things and, calmed down took a few deep breaths. I concentrated by looking closely, focused and used the things that weren't forgotten. Then things got easy; I was able to do school work; math turned out good and fractions went well.

Thankful things

Sitting at a picnic table in Mobile, Alabama...thinking of thankful things instead of Facebook things

-- soft breeze blowing across the water

-- in the shadow of the USS Alabama, reminder of others and their great sacrifice for me

-- stomp stomp of little girl feet

-- oohs and ahhhs of happy little boys, marveling at the size of it all

Test post

Trying out that app again. Let's see if it works this time. 

Apparently the app needs some work

I tried using the blogger app this weekend.  And did you see a new post Sunday?  Yeah me neither.  I'm going to try to work on it to see what I can find.  The whole post was about why I'm off Facebook and here more.  We'll see if I get around to re-writing it.  The condensed version?  I'm off Facebook because it was messing with my head.  I'm here now, trying to write more.  That is, if the app will cooperate.

Guest Blogger

Notice a short, random post from earlier today?  That was Jack, my new guest blogger.  It'll be a weekly thing, his posting.  For writing I'm having him compose weekly blog posts.  My rationale for this multi-faceted.  First, we live in a digital world and I want him to begin to learn to use the tools of that world.  Second, writing for an audience is always a good idea.  He won't get peer-reviews and such at home so this blog offers the next best thing.  YOU!

I will not be proofing his work before he posts it nor am I giving him any constraints regarding topic.  After each post, he and I will talk about conventions of writing and will discuss how to improve.  Obviously, if you read the last post you'll notice we'll need to work on cohesion and how to pick a main topic!

How can you help?  Comment! Ask questions, reply with your own thoughts. Don't worry about correcting him, that's my job as teacher.  But feedback from an audience is something I can manufacture here, which is why we need you! But remember, like too much correction can frustrate him, too much praise can do the same (especially if he realizes the praise is unwarranted or unequal to his ability).  The most important thing you can do is simply be real with him.  Comment if you are a commenter, don't if you aren't.  Comment if you have something to say, don't if you don't.

Hopefully we will see the growth of a writer through this process.  And if nothing else, at least there will be something new here weekly!

jack's week

I am going to Disney world in a week and I can't wait. Tonight is Halloween. On Saturday I have a
football game. I had guitar practice today. I have a new puppy.