The Real Joy of Thanksgiving
By: Christina Frost
As we tuck away all the jack-o-lanterns, cauldrons, and cobweb laden skeletons, we find ourselves deep in the heart of fall.
I’ll say, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve enjoyed November and the culmination of Thanksgiving more and more. However as a kid, I didn’t give it a lot of thought because it didn’t offer me the excitement I wanted. There were no costumes or door-to-door appeals for candy. There were no mountains of presents waiting under the tree for me at the end of the month. It was a time to eat and hang with family members and frankly I felt like I “did that” all year long.
Then as I got older, more guilt came along with Thanksgiving. There was the guilt for eating “too many” calories, then the guilt associated with the time spent at the relatives house when I got there too late or had to leave early. And don’t get me started on the panicked last minute realizations it was close to the end of the month, and I only had four-ish weeks left to start Christmas shopping…
Yet in spite of all of this, somewhere along the way, as I grew and gained a deeper perspective of the world–my view of Thanksgiving began to shift also.
I began to enjoy not having the stresses of presents or preparing a costume that came along with Thanksgiving. I could simply don my autumn best–turkey earrings and peaceful brown or cream colored dress and show up with a pie to feast with the family. As we lost family members along the way, I came to appreciate the ones left more and more. My heart began to be more grateful for everything, including my health, the fact that I had family and friends to celebrate the holiday with, and all the resources we had which provided enough food on the table for everyone.
Lately though, after all the hardships each of us has experienced over the past few years, something opened up inside of me which not only did away with the guilt of supposed tos or worrying about calories, but I began to see the blessings for what they were–genuinely delightful gifts. Every single positive, good, or fun thing we experience on or around Thanksgiving was never meant to have heavy expectations attached, they were only meant to be celebrated and bless our weary hearts!
And why shouldn’t we receive those gifts with eager, open hands? We don’t have to do anything to earn gifts, that’s why they’re gifts! What we’ve been given–the breath in our lungs, the people who love us, grandparent’s famous recipes to prepare, the solid ground beneath our feet and the star-studded sky above us–we can cherish all of these things and receive them with gladness.
So this year, as fall continues to unfurl its golden days around us, we can keep our eyes peeled for the gifts we will receive. We can be thankful (and excited) for our pumpkin pies and mashed potatoes, the memories we make as we joke around the lunch table or cheer for our favorite football teams. It will be a time to reconcile, reconnect, and bless those we come in contact with. Let’s come and sit at the table of bounty, where we can savor the beauty of every precious thing in our lives.
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