Thanksgiving has to be my second favorite holiday right behind Christmas. All of the abundant traditional foods to be shared with some quality family time. Thanksgiving is also not all commercialized, if you don’t count the Black Friday thing. It has always been very enjoyable to catch up with family and friends, have a feast that lasts for days, and then watching college football on TV.
Pat and I toured through a local Radford history museum while the family was off doing their thing. The photos are from the Glencoe Mansion, an 1875 mansion on the New River. The mansion now hosts the town’s museum.
Back to the holiday, I know that Canada celebrates a Thanksgiving of sorts in October, but not sure if the rest of the world does anything or not. Certainly not the same without the turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, etc.
As to the meaning of the day, I do have much to be thankful for, including my faith, family, country, and our good health. Many times in our busy lives we forget to give thanks for all of our blessings.
Another plus is the Thanksgiving holiday does not have the pressure of finding just the right gifts for others as does the Christmas holiday. Just sharing some time and turkey together.
I like to remember all of the Thanksgiving holidays of the past. From the very earliest that I can remember in the late 1950’s in Indiana when my parents would take us to the grandparents with a house full of people, lots of fancy table settings, and everyone dressed in their Sunday best. Dresses for the woman and ties and jackets for the men. It was more of a formal time. It was great for photos but way more comfortable in today’s more casual attire.
Then through the years after we were married, Pat and I would take our kids and split the holiday time between our parent’s homes. For many years this was the set up. Some years we were local and had a short drive, but other years it was a longer drive such as from Missouri back to Indiana.
Finally, to the past 20 years or more, we have enjoyed the holidays with our kids here in Virginia. Of course, after I retired we had three years where we were away in our RV travels and no home to gather to. The kiddos were on their own. Now, we have our “summer” home in Virginia to be able to host the family once again.
In just a few more days, we will begin the trek south, for real this time, to Florida. I love seeing the Christmas lights on the palm trees. Christmas lights in the tropics are a thoroughly enjoyable sight. Maybe it is the warm weather that helps.
Back in the hard working days, this two day holiday plus the weekend was a great break from the Corporate world. It seemed way better than the Monday type holiday plus weekend. Probably because it was always a family gathering.
Being retired loses that being away from work boost that one gets from the holidays. I’m always on holiday or vacation if you will. I do not miss all the deadlines and some of the more stressful aspects of my career in Finance. Oh those last minute requests from upper management. Or the many changes to the annual budget so that it is more of perfect world forecast. And then it was the never ending reconciliations once the actual results rolled in. No, do not miss that. Certainly miss the people though.
I am very thankful for all the workers out there who are not retired. The postal workers, truck drivers, restaurant workers, and on and on. Especially in these times of massive worker shortages in all industries.
We will all be thankful if this never ending Plague is finally over and no more masks or concerns of infection. Now there is an even more contagious variant that is also unresponsive to vaccines. How lovely. At least I have built up a superman level of antibodies by having all vaccines plus the Covid itself.
Here’s to hoping that everyone had a great Thanksgiving with family or friends and found some things that you are thankful for this year.
Take care and God Bless.
Thanks for sharing.
Very well said! Thank you.