This year, we spent Thanksgiving at my sisters. It was really nice. It's the first time I can remember in a long time that we didn't have Thanksgiving at my house. It's was much easier---less work. And I didn't have to bust my buns cleaning the house making it presentable for company.
I didn't have to make pies. I chose to. I made two huckleberry, two yummy plum pies, that tasted like rhubarb, and two pumpkin. My brother got creative, and made some cold, cheesecake pies a chocolate, mouse, pie. Yes, "mouse," pie. My mom and I had a disagreement on how it is spelled. At first she thought it was mouse. Then she went to the dictionary and found out that it was mousse pie, thankfully.
Can you imagine, everyone gathered round the thanksgiving table. Then you come out and say, "hey, I made a mouse pie, would you like some?"
Ha. Anywho. The point? Thanksgiving was good. We ate, and visited, and then the family went up into the mountains to do some hiking to see some landmarks.
And nobody got the barfs like last year. Last year was a terrible memory of washed up pies, potatoes, and Jell-O, all swimming together with turkey, and cranberry sauce, in the toilet. No one in the family was spared this awful fate. The plague hit our whole family in just a matter of hours. Despite all the misery, I guess you could say that was very memorable.
So that's good, I guess. :)
To celebrate the changing season, my sister and I have been working like crazy to get our ice skating rink up. We moved it again, to a different spot this year, not so close to the road, to a more private place where we can actually feel safe being silly on the ice. I hope we get it up in time. My brother says that it's supposed to be really cold this coming week. I guess we shall see.
Black Friday came and went, leaving me as puzzled at humanity's foibles once again.
I ask you, why?
Why do we even celebrate Thanksgiving, if it's only a precursor to Christmas, and a mad grab for stuff? It seems a slap in the face, really. Why, if we are so thankful for what we have, do we have to go get more?
It's downright degrading. But, I admit I was rather amused when I watched a few YouTube videos showing the mobs fighting, scratching, and pushing through the stores to get their DVD players.
Seriously? I wonder.
Were those things really that "good" of a deal? I've never been a person for large crowds. They always make me feel, cramped, and horrible. I can honestly say that no price would be worth the mad grab that goes on, on that dark day. No "thing" could be worth the dehumanizing, greedy, piggy apocalypse that always seems to happen. Ugg.
It speaks nothing of the goodness, and Godlike quality that we can reflect, and give. To see people behave so animal-like really makes my stomach churn.
Nope. I'll go do my shopping online, thank you very much. Better prices. No traffic. You want a good deal? Go to the thrift shop. Get your DVD player for five bucks.
Sorry if you happen to be a person who likes to do that "Friday thing." No ill will intended. I'm just sayin...it wouldn't ever, never, ever be worth it to me.
Nope. I'll take my version of warm leftover Friday over the "worlds" black Friday, any day.
Yes. I'll take those leftover days, and revel in the abundance that made those Holidays so good, that part of its abundance and goodness spilled over into the next day.
Some might call me foolish, but while Black Friday happened to the world, I was busy gleaning the drippings from the day before. While the world looked outward, searched for more. I looked inward, and found many treasures that nobody ever saw or noticed.
I had a sunny, quiet day, and relished in the abundance that surrounded me. I'll took that leftover day and slept in late, then woke up to a comforting breakfast of homemade huckleberry pie, made better by age. I'll sat by the stove, and warmed my toes. I went outside, and enjoyed the sun---the beauty of the day.
Yes, I am thankful. Even when sometimes I do not show it.
I am thankful most of all for freedom, for space, for time, and for the good people in my life. For the opportunity I have to remake my life everyday. For the ability to live abundantly. To relish what I have, and to want it. To be content, and still be an idealist, and a dreamer. To be reaching, and also to be full, and hungry for the light. To feel both happiness, and sadness. To feel both compassion, and joy---to taste, to listen, to breathe, and smell, to move and dance. To feel the rhythm of life, and make music with the notes that I find, to write, and find meaning in the small things.
This is what makes me happy.
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