Tis the Season.....NOT!

The holiday season is here. For those who do not celebrate Christmas, it is the holiday season. For those of us who do, it is the Christmas season. However, today I refer to the Thanksgiving season, the weeks leading up to the day we give thanks for all we have and celebrate with turkey dinners.

To the retail outlets, it is already the holiday/Christmas season. The stores are already packed with trees, presents, and Christmas music. Geez, even one of our local radio stations is playing non-stop Christmas music through the end of the year. 2 WHOLE MONTHS of Christmas music! Overkill I say! But I digress...

Thanksgiving season begins the day after Halloween. Ghosts, Draculas, and scary decorations are replaced with autumn leaves, pictures of Pilgrims, and cornucopias filled with autumn harvests; representing the plentiful bounty we are fortunate enough to have. Some have more than others. The global recession has hit the wallets of many of us and we try to do the same, with less money to do it. Sometimes it requires a bit of creativity to make ends meet. In the end, we find a way to do it.

This Thanksgiving Day, I will be spending with my husband and my kids. I will be cooking a feast of turkey, dressing, potatoes, vegetables and a fine helping of pumpkin pie. Well, maybe pumpkin pie, as my daughter has recently developed a food allergy to something, but there will be dessert. I will not think about work. I will not worry about making ends meet. I will stay in the moment. The moment will be about giving thanks for all that we do have: a house to live in, food on the table, and, most importantly, a family that I love and who loves me back. This is the season that I am in. I hope that the Thanksgiving season lasts in my heart all year round. I want to remember all of the good everyday, the things I have and not the things I don't. Right now, I have all that is most important: love, food, and shelter.

Christmas will be right around the corner after that. The Christmas season begins when Santa Claus makes his way down the parade route at the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I will begin listening to some of the non-stop Christmas music myself, as I reflect on the meaning of the season. Right now, I reflect on the meaning of this season and all that I have to be grateful for in my life. That is the bright spot of my day!

Until Next Time....
Holly