Giving Thanks

I am still stunned that Halloween has come and gone, and now it is Thanksgiving.  This used to be one of my top 5 holidays, a day to get dressed up and visit relatives for a wonderful feast with the table dressed in it's very best china and linen.

Then it became a day to be shared with football, the family was still there, and plenty of food, but the sport brought with it a less formal feel to the day, less time allotted to reflect and acknowledge our blessings and the bountiful life we lead on a daily basis simply by living in the right generation, in a wonderful country.

Now it seems to have evolved again, it is a marker to put up your Christmas decor.  What was once the pre-launch day to "Black Friday" has now become the first shopping day of the holiday season.  People are actually working on Thanksgiving Day and foregoing home, family and tradition to man cash registers of the ever demanding retail market.

Christmas music is being blasted around the clock on radio stations and in shopping malls (some since November 1), when you forget your traditions and abandon family to shop for the best deal, where is the meaning behind a holiday at all.

If we are immersed in Christmas from late October onwards, doesn't Christmas day itself become the signal of the end and therefore the loss of something instead of the point of the season itself.?

In these trying times where many of us find ourselves lighter in the wallet and heavier in the bills, wouldn't it be nice to take a moment of reflection and count our many blessings still?

I am thankful for:

A home to envelop my family in
food to fill our bellies and hunger being a stranger to our door
health enough to enable us to enjoy one another and find laughter in our daily deeds
two children who force feed my heart with more love than a person has a right to enjoy
friends who nurture me and share their lives and love with me and know my flaws; and like me anyway
freedom to live where I like, practice any religion I choose, and be a individual with rights and value.

I hope you practice the tradition to acknowledge your blessings and give yourself a moment to give thanks for all you have.  There is time enough for all the rest and that is something else to be thankful for.

With a Thankful Heart.

Trick or Treat 2010 ~ a little of both.

What a differance a year makes, last Halloween, the kids were in awe that when you knocked on a door, people answered, the dress up and candy were background information.  Their joy came from people greeting them with a smile and wishing them a good time on their journey.  This year, we recognized characters from movies and books whom we could emmulate and that Halloween was a time to be out with other children in similar dress and candy, delicious elixir of wonder, was to be had at all houses illuminated with lights and pumpkins glowing on porches.

We kicked off the weekend with a Halloween Party at school. It's plain to see, this knight adores

his princess.

This is no damsel in distress, this Beauty can take care of herself.

Definitely my knight in shining armor.

  

The next generation - looking good.

It all looks so good.....

Got to love a kid who will leave his "helmet" on all day at school.

All for one, one for all!

Long Live Cupcakes!

Costume Change #2 ~ Yes, we were Dorothy and the Scarecrow last year, but Mom needed

to re-live the cuteness one more time (I have a feeling  I won't be choosing the costumes next year)

 

Somebody give me a spoon so I can eat them up.

Toto, I don't think we're in Changsha anymore.

Free breakfast at the local diner for all kids in costume.  Is it wrong to say

this pirate is smoking hot and too sexy for his daggar?

My babies are in the final transition before becoming full fledged "kids". Bittersweet to see how independently they could maneuver from home to home, while I waited behind, no longer required to be at the door with them.   My only usefulness this night to warn them to stay off of the lawns and shout for them to say thank you at every stop.  Soon, they won't need me even to guide them through the neighborhood.  While their joy was obvious, and their enthusiasm contagious, the trick is that this 3rd Halloween together leaves but a few more remaining where we will travel as a family group, and with each passing Halloween  my role will be smaller until I am but a shadow in the night.  Now that is a Scary thought !

Hoping your holiday was Bootiful too.