I must admit, I am like a little kid getting ready for a holiday. I just want to be making pumpkin pies, listening to food tips and family stories on public radio and making Thanksgiving connections with family and friends. So, business has taken a bit of a second place. However, my desire to “clean up and organize” has also been strong, so I am directing that to my business as well as home and I am going with the flow!
Here is a follow-up tip on last week’s suggestion about eating at least one local food for the Thanksgiving Holiday to take a small step toward sustainability. Add cranberries to your list if you live in the Puget Sound! Washington actually produces some of the finest, and, thus, the fresh cranberries you find at the market may well be from Washington. Be discerning though, I ended up with some from Minnesota.
One of the good aspects of being in the Second Half is that we may have learned to delegate. A friend of mine did, and as a result, her home is the center of the Thanksgiving festivities, however, the turkey is actually being cooked by someone else and no one has too many items for which they are responsible. Less stress, more fun!
As I contemplated sending you a longer article on the value of gratitude, I found tuning into what I am grateful is what is called for: Big things, SUN for three days so that many of us in the Northwest will not be driving in the rain! Good health – even though some additional R & R will be welcome! Connection with family and friends. Reflection on of all of the blessings that have come into my life over the last year brings the faces of many of you to mind! Joy that comes from spiritual sources that are deeper than any of the externals in my life. I invite you to join me. Pause and make your list. You may find that your list, like mine, continues to grow.
Warm Wishes for a Joyful Thanksgiving,
Sandra J.
2 Comments
This prayer makes me feel cheerful!
Let us give thanks for a bounty of people:
For children who are our second planting, and though they grow like weeds and the wind too soon blows them away, may they forgive us our cultivation and fondly remember where their roots are….
For generous friends with hearts and smiles as bright as their blossoms;
For feisty friends as tart as apples;
For continuous friends, who, like scallions and cucumbers, keep reminding us that we’ve had them;
For crotchety friends, as sour as rhubarb and as indestructible;
For handsome friends, who are as gorgeous as eggplants and as elegant as a row of corn, and the other, plain as potatoes and as good for you;
For funny friends, who are as silly as Brussels Sprouts and as amusing as Jerusalem Artichokes, and serious friends, as complex as cauliflowers and as intricate as onions;
For friends as unpretentious as cabbages, as subtle as summer squash, as persistent as parsley, as delightful as dill, as endless as zucchini, and who, like parsnips, can be counted on to see you through the winter;
For old friends, nodding like sunflowers in the evening-time, and young friends coming on as fast as radishes;
For loving friends, who wind around us like tendrils and hold us, despite our blights, wilts and witherings;
And finally, for those friends now gone, like gardens past that have been harvested, and who fed us in their times that we might have life thereafter;
For all these we give thanks.
by Reverend Max Coots
Sandra,
I am thankful for you, your positive energy and the warmth you share with everyone you come into contact with. I LOVE reading your blog!