Thanksgiving and Christmas together as one

So now that Halloween is over there will be those overzealous people who start listening to Christmas music and driving us crazy, right? We'll I used think that was awful. I'd say come on lets not totally skip over Thanksgiving and head straight for Christmas. Then one day I had a co-worker that said she thought the two holidays were synonymous so what's the big deal. At first I didn't understand, but I think I finally get it and I want to explain what it is I feel.

I would never want to skip over Thanksgiving just to be clear. I think it is one of the most important holidays there is. In fact it really bothers me when we go to Kent's families for Thanksgiving because we hurry and eat (at almost exactly the time dinner was supposed to be served) as if we have a time limit and must finish dinner in that time. After it seems most are finished with dinner you hurry and get everything cleaned up (when you get up from the table to take care of a baby you WILL lose your meal) and then you sit around talking or else go out shooting with the men. No time for being grateful just hurry and eat so we can get it all over with and get to the next part.

In my family for years we would sit down just before dinner and everyone would say just one thing they were thankful for, and then we would eat and visit all through dinner. Then we would all be sitting and talking and no one would be eating. At that point someone would say let's get this cleaned up. To me thanksgiving dinner is great, but more important is the idea that we take inventory of what we are grateful for. That is why I am so excited to have Becca and Jason and their girls coming for dinner this year.

Ok now that I am done with that I would like to say that I have really been thankful lately and as I become more and more thankful I realize just how much I have. When you look at what you have and not what you don't have you find you are very rich and not poor. Here's the Christmas part. If you are very rich then you have so much to give. When you give something you have but don't need to someone who does need it you feel like the richest person on earth. Sometimes that excess is money and sometimes it is things. For example somehow my sister ended up with two of the same pictures of Christ. It was a large painting and she decided to give it to her friend. She told me that when she gave that picture she felt like she was SO rich (this was a time in her life when she was struggling financially). Interestingly enough this same recipient gave me a discount in lieu of the picture when I took her Bradley birthing class.

See how it works. As you go into this holiday season try and remember that you truly do have a lot even if it isn't money or things. Sometimes we are blessed with the love of family and friends where others have none. For some it's a blessing just to be alive and healthy. Whatever it is you do have something that someone else does not have. When you realize what it is you are thankful for celebrate it and then don't forget to freely share what it is you do have to give. So celebrate Christmas in November if you'd like, but if you do don't forget to celebrate Thanksgiving when it's over too!