Saturday, November 19, 2011

A statement of thanks

I wanted to take moment or two to talk about Thanksgiving!  I love this time of year.  The cooler weather (meaning that snow is around the corner), family, cooking, and a time to reflect on the things that I am abundantly blessed with.

I am thankful for my family.  I remember back when we were told we probably wouldn't be able to have kids...now we have a full house with 3.  I have siblings that support me and pray for me.  That will leave their families at a moments notice to come make meals for me when I have an emergency appendectomy.

A home to live in and a job to help me afford this.

Food in my pantry and the ability to share with others.

Thousands of soldiers who, daily, give up time with their families, and sometimes their lives so I can sit here and type my opinions with out fear of retaliation.

There so much more I could mention but a cooking mom of three only has so much time.

One thing I am not thankful for is the Christmas creep.  It's like an uncontrolled Kudzu infestation. The ghosts and ghouls haven't even made it to the clearance shelf when the Christmas marketing begins! I remember working at one of those wholesale clubs and stocking Christmas Cookie baskets in the steel...in July. 

What happened to Thanksgiving?  A time to pause and think of how amazingly good we have it.  Even if right now, you feel as though there is no light to be found...if you live in the US you live a life that millions dream of.  To gather your family and/or friends and fellowship with one another.

Now don't get me wrong I love snow, and watching Christmas movies til I can quote them, and just delighting in the meaning of Christmas, but don't neglect the time to give thanks.  Respect the Bird! We pour money into scaring people then before we've even gasped our next breath we're lighting Christmas lights, selling Christmas decor, Christmas songs begin to play and the commercials...oh don't even get me going on the commercials.

Do you feel the same?  Wondering what you can do about it...let me tell you! It's referred to as the Respect the Bird campaign,.  It's a grass roots effort started in November 2010 by one frustrated Allrecipes.com Supporting Member, Doug Matthews. Doug wrote a blog post then reminding people Thanksgiving deserves to be more than an afterthought among our national holidays. Taking a cue from Doug’s blog post, Allrecipes aims to boost Respect the Bird into national awareness.

I've pledged, go ahead do it too!  Let's start a nationwide movement!  To take the Respect the Bird pledge go here.  Or click on my link on the right! 

Do you have a Thanksgiving tradition? A favorite food? Do you Respect the Bird?

Until we eat again!

2 comments:

  1. This year....no tradition. No family. No friends. I know its horrible...ill skip the bird to get me closer to family time. This will be a lonely week.

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  2. Since we don't do "bird" in the traditional sense (not a turkey fan) and I do do Black Friday like it's going out of style, this isn't something I align myself with via this campaign...BUT...I think we should be more thankful and live in gratitude every day. We are owed nothing and any blessings we have come from God above, so it's never too late, too early, too often, to say thanks. We have so much abundance to be grateful for.

    And with that...I don't care for the hullabaloo that Christmas has become at all...even in its "time". I love Black Friday because we wait all year to get the most menial of items at the best cost, things we need anyway. Jeans, small food processor, a salad spinner. Seriously, I'm a cheap thrills girl. We needed new furniture for years, but waited until 1) Josiah stopped barfing every meal, and 2) we could get our couch set for less than 1 small HD flat screen. I can't hate on BF... best date all year. ;) BUT! I respect that Thanksgiving MUST come first. Great post!

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