Sunday, November 21, 2021

THANKSGIVING OBSERVATIONS & REFLECTIONS

Thanksgiving will arrive during this week ahead, then we can really get into preparing for the next holiday.   What seems to be happening in recent years is that we're all in such a rush that we start pushing for the holiday that comes after the one we haven't even yet celebrated.

In fact, this year I started seeing promotions for Christmas before we even had Halloween the end of October, much less Thanksgiving the end of November.  I don't hear such early promotion of Hanukkah or any other holidays, especially those with religious emphasis, occurring during that time.

Halloween this year came and went as Christmas promotion became even stronger -- and we still hadn't had Thanksgiving yet!

Well, finally Thanksgiving will be here this week, so we can hardly wait to finally throw ourselves into really, major Christmas promotion, or -- wait a minute -- are we going to skip ahead to New Year's?

I remember my childhood and think about all the little children today.  When I was young Christmas was never promoted until the day after Thanksgiving.   Even then, I thought the time to wait was so-o-o very, very, lo-n-g-g -- I can only imagine how children today must feel -- waiting ... waiting ... waiting ... when is Santa coming?

I checked back to some of my old posts in which I wrote about Thanksgiving.  I typed "Thanksgiving" in that little search box in the upper left-hand corner of this screen on my blog and amazingly to me there were ten blog posts that came up.  I probably mentioned Thanksgiving within other posts most years, too.

Reviewing those ten posts, one, especially, elicited a mixture of feelings for me -- that Thanksgiving was the first one I remembered describing what occurred that year, about 7 months after my husband's death in 2006.  I wrote about my deliberately choosing to go alone to a restaurant as I wanted to know how I would feel.  The piece entitled "Adventure Alone on Thanksgiving" gave an account of what turned out to be a rather unusual experience.

I also wrote one year about a Thanksgiving controversy in our town over our school children's Indians and the Pilgrims tradition.  Another year, I suggested we should move the date of when we celebrate Thanksgiving -- seemed like a viable possibility at the time.

I've shared Thanksgiving memories.  I've written about how I've celebrated the day virtually with my family long before this pandemic which I likely will be doing again this year.  Generally, my Thanksgiving posts have just been a potpourri of thoughts, memories, and experiences.  I invite you to read any of them that might be of interest.

As I write this, I have just experienced an evening of viewing listening to Great Performances on one of my four antenna accessible Public Broadcasting Stations (PBS) TV channels -- a night of intoxicating music and am in a very reflective mood.  

There was the centennial celebration of the landmark Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.  They performed "La Valse" by Ravel, Stravinsky's "The Firebird" (a special favorite of mine) and more led by three renowned LA Phil conductors: current Music and Artistic director Gustavo Dudamel, Zubin Mehta and Esa-Pekka Salonen.  Then, "From Space I Saw Earth" was conducted by those three.

I think of Thanksgivings past, a house filled with laughter, attracting aromas drawing one and all of a variety of ages to a dinner table over-flowing with delicious food and beverage.  That was then, this is now.

May you enjoy every moment of this Thanksgiving season -- that special day you experience this year, the memories you have from yesteryear and look forward to the ones you'll form in the coming year(s).  

We may want to take a few moments to count our blessings -- to think for what we can be thankful.  

Diana Krall sings "Counting My Blessings"

 

This year, as every year, I wish each of you a very happy Thanksgiving.

Perhaps you have a special Thanksgiving memory, thought, or want to share here this year's plans.  

26 comments:

  1. We have finally recovered from our own festive season and life is back to normal. We do not have Thanksgiving here but, I wish you a very happy Thanksgiving.

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    1. Thanks, Ramana! I thought of you as i saw news items about your festival celebration in India. I read on your blog some special foods you were enjoying.

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  2. I agree with the rush to celebrate. I was kidding a while back that pretty soon we will start advertising for Christmas around the 4th of July. Some places do have a Christmas in July celebration. Yikes. Funny how you brought up how long it takes Christmas to come for children. It seemed forever and now they have even longer to anticipate and wait. There will be no gathering here as the Covid numbers are climbing everyday and it would be so sad to have been so careful for so many months only for naught. Thank goodness for the phone. For that I am very thankful.

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    1. Oh so true about promoting Christmas on July 4th being the next stage. Yes, some of us will anticipate celebrating the holiday virtually with phone calls from distant loved ones. We can be thankful for technology that brought us the phone and the evolution of the internet.

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  3. You make a terrific observation about kids anticipating Christmas. I remember waiting to see the Norelco Santa riding his little electric shaver in their commercial. It was often the first Christmas ad aired, and I knew then it was the Season. Now, I see ads as early as September and October, and Christmas merchandise crowds out Halloween stuff in the stores.

    Kids like Halloween, but not as much as adults these days, so I wonder how long they wonder and dream about Christmas. It must feel like forever. And Thanksgiving, because there are no presents, probably feels like a grown-up holiday--so boring.

    Happy Thanksgiving to you, Joared. I prefer the holiday even though I have to prep and cook--a lot of work. It's the one holiday that hasn't been turned into an all-out commercial extravaganza.

    Yet.

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    1. As children we did notice those advertising markers that told us Christmas was coming. I’ve noticed, too, how adults have taken over Halloween. Are they trying to recapture their childhood, I’ve wondered?

      I recall all too well the hectic Thanksgiving cooking preparations during my working days — long days. Now, I have little or nothing i must do since I expect to have a prepared meal. Plus, a couple days ago one of the long term care retirement communities unexpectedly phoned me to ask if i would like to have a free apple or pumpkin pie. They’ll deliver it Tuesday which I’m delighted to receive since I hadn't yet ordered one as I had intended from a local family-owned deli.

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  4. Happy Thanksgiving to you, Joared. Our Thanksgivings were always with friends when we lived in Illinois and with family here in Hawaii. However, we had Thanksgiving alone last year and will again have it alone just because our numbers are not going down fast enough.

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    1. Glad you can enjoy the holiday with one another even if not with other family members in Hawaii. Expect you cherish special memories from your Illinois days.

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  5. This was a welcoming post because you pointed out that the holidays with the most commercial importance are given the most hype. Religious or not.

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    1. Yes, commercialization has increasingly dominated all the holidays in my lifetime. Does make me wonder where this will go in the future?

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  6. It's all commercialized to death, isn't it. Our Thanksgiving was October which was more sensible but the Chinese Christmas Crap is everywhere. The irony of this never escapes me.

    We do solstice, very simply, with a book exchange. It is lovely. We are all readers which helps I suppose. And it is so meaningful picking out the best book for each person.

    Happy Thanksgiving Joared. I am more and more aware that here in North America we are all living on stolen land.

    XO
    WWW

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    1. Yes, I, too, have been interested to learn even more than I already knew about how land and more here was stolen and even now, the people from whom it was taken are being subjected to further assaults in one way or another. Ironically, they seem to be people who were more aware of our need to respect the Earth and nature than their conquerors (us), have been. We should listen to them more.

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  7. I hope you enjoy your Thanksgiving, and that your virtual celebration with family is joyful. We will be 10 this year, all vaccinated, half of us boostered. I haven’t gotten my booster yet, but will soon. Not in time for Thanksgiving, however. We love Christmas as much as the next family, but it was interesting to me that last year, it was Thanksgiving that my husband’s parents wanted to risk coming over for, and Christmas they did not, we all spent it separately. Of course, it wasn’t a HUGE risk, we all were working from home and being very careful when we went out, etc, but it was not NO risk either. Just as this year will also be a risk, albeit a much smaller one. I have some cooking to do, but thankfully the family get together is a group effort, so no one has to do EVERYTHING. Much better for us, esp since it is at my in-laws house, and my MIL is 84. She does the turkey and the potatoes and gravy. Everything else is assigned to others. It works well.

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    1. Do enjoy your family gathering -- such occasions don't always last as long as we live. I think it's ideal when all contribute food to the occasion.

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  8. No Thanksgiving in the UK as you know, just a very long run-up to Christmas. The big supermarkets have been promoting Christmas products heavily for weeks. I've even seen a local bakery wishing their customers a Happy New Year! At this rate we'll soon be seeing adverts for Valentines Day.

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    1. Oh dear, moving ahead to advertise New Year's is already happening. You're right -- Valentines Day is now surely in the commercial world's sights already.

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  9. You probably know that Thanksgiving is an American tradition and not celebrated much elsewhere. All the same, I wish you a happy day and may it bring you joy and time to reflect.

    Soon I will be celebrating the 1st Advent Sunday, let that be my celebration.

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    1. Yes, i realize the Thanksgiving we celebrate in the U.S. is unique to us and not celebrated in other countries though I think Canada has a celebration in Oct. but different from ours.

      Do celebrate your 1st Advent Sunday.

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  10. I might add about Thanksgiving, our indigenous people may not see this as a day of celebration but one of mourning, understandably when we consider what their people have experienced.

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  11. Dear Joared, thank you for the video of "Counting My Blessings." It has always been a favorite of mine and I follow its injunction many nights as sleep eludes me.

    Your last comment is on the indigenous people here on this continent and Thanksgiving. On PBS this month, there have been a number of fine programs about indigenous people and also about the history of the immigrants who came and tired as the years passed to exterminate them. One last night was on the Arapaho Nation trying to retrieve the bodies of three children who were sent to the Carlisle School and died there. After viewing these stories this month, I am left with a much deeper appreciate of the fortitude and bravery and good sense of those whose ancestors endured our hostile take-over and our own attempt at genocide. Yet the indigenous people endure. In a real way, they triumph.

    I don't know if you've ever read the books--both a series and several stand-alone novels--by the Minnosota author William Kent Krueger. If you haven't, I think you might really appreciate the prequel the came out this year. It's title, if I'm remembering correctly, is "The Lightning Strike."

    Happy Thanksgiving. Peace.

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    1. Thanks for your informative comment. I've been viewing a number of those special PBS programs. I haven't read those books you mention. I do recall years ago attending Pow Wows in Scottsdale, AZ with my then little daughter when we lived there. Also, went to a reading by a then new unknown author of "Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee". I recently purchased some books I haven't yet found time to read about the Hopi tribe since years later occasionally meeting a young college-educated Hopi friend of a family member. Married to a non-Indian with whom he has a lovely family, his wife a teacher, he has been committed to learning and perpetuating his nation's traditions. His mother still lives on their reservation the last I knew. I'll keep in mind those novels you mentioned. Years ago I enjoyed reading now-deceased Tony Hillerman's writings including detective/mystery novels.

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    2. Dear Joared, as you probably know, Hillerman is dead now, but his daughter Anne started her own series several years ago and uses several of the characters developed by her father. She's a good writer; you might enjoy her. It's a way of learning, I've discovered, about today and the Hopi and Navaho. Peace.

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    3. Thanks for the information about Hillerman’s daughter, Anne. I’ll look into her writing. I’ve been off reading for a time and with these books I already have, but will likely eventually get back in the reading groove eventually.

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  12. Blog policy does not permit publishing comments with embedded links, especially of a commercial nature. Repeat violators will have all future comments automatically deleted.

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  13. This year was a special one for us here on the point. A wonderful post, thank you.

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    1. Glad this year’s was special for you!

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