Thanksgiving 2009

The Christmas Season is already in full gear, at least on the retail side, but it wasn’t always like that. There was a time when Christmas was celebrated far more simply than today. We shouldn’t blame the merchants for the commercialization of Christmas; consumers are as much to blame as anyone. It is this need many feel to plunge headlong into buying and decorating for Christmas even before Thanksgiving that I find disturbing.

My favorite holiday is Christmas, for reasons too many to enumerate here, but I particularly like the gift-giving and gift-receiving aspects of Christmas. I also appreciate the sounds of the season, Christmas Carols and the Holiday Greetings including the generic term, “Happy Holidays.” Yes, I prefer “Merry Christmas,” but even the generic term adds to the feeling of Christmas.

It seems we need not only the month of December to celebrate Christmas, but we require more and more of November in order to prepare for December. All this serves to shortchange Thanksgiving Day. Thanksgiving should be celebrated as a religious holiday. It’s more than a feast day to gather with family and/ or friends. It’s a day to honor and to thank Almighty God for, historically, a bountiful harvest and presently for all that we have and enjoy in this great land.

God, not “the government,” has richly blessed our nation. Though, the liberals of this land would have us believe they are the source of our blessings, Christian hearts know otherwise.

This Thanksgiving I am thankful for my salvation and all that God has entrusted to me, a loving wife and two wonderful children, a son-in-law, and three granddaughters. Beyond my immediate family, I’m thankful for my sister, two brothers, and all who comprise their respective families. I’m thankful for my one remaining uncle and for a passel of cousins. For good health and a house much finer than I ever imagined, that I proudly call home, and for work that is rewarding, I am truly thankful. For friends, close and far away, some I’ve never met face to face but are friends, nonetheless, I am also thankful.

My prayer is that God will see fit to continue to bless all in my household and all my relatives and friends. I pray that our nation will soon recognize that all we have is a gift from God, and will truly praise Him.

This Thanksgiving Day, my family will join my sister’s family (those of us not obligated to be elsewhere) to celebrate the day in the home of my niece and her husband, Felicia and Cullen Pollard. I’ve not seen the menu, but it’s sure to include turkey, ham, cornbread dressing, sweet potatoes, creamed potatoes, green bean casserole, and Barbara Anne’s homemade rolls. In a typical year, there are five or more desserts (seven pictured above), sweet potato pie, pecan pie, pumpkin roll, and a couple of cakes. Somehow, I must restrain myself and not overeat.