Thanksgiving comes once a year. It's the holiday where families gather for great food, catch up on family news and share memories of years past. Our Thanksgiving traditions start with childhood memories. Mine include going to the Thanksgiving Day parade in New York City, picking up my relatives after the parade for the ride back to my house and watching the Wizard of Oz at night. Your Thanksgiving memories and traditions are different from mine but cherished in the same way.
We seldom look back to the origins of our Thanksgiving holiday. We learned in school that the first Thanksgiving feast followed the pilgrims first harvest in the new country, America. The settlers and the Indians came together to celebrate all they had to be grateful for.
Thanksgiving is a Day for Remembering What We Are Thankful For
Thankful for my family and friends around the world.
Thankful that in the US, there is a safety net so everyone has a roof over their heads.
Grateful that in the US we have clean air to breath, and clean water to drink.
Thankful we live in safety … thanks to the police and fire department.
Thankful for personal health … thanks to eating healthy, our doctors and hospitals.
Appreciative of the education available to everyone … and thanks to our teachers and schools.
Grateful for freedom of speech … thanks to our Bill of Rights.
Thankful for our choice of religion … while many countries don't tolerate free choice.
Thankful I'm able to pick the type of work I'm doing … and finding something I'm passionate about!
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The American lifestyle is changing and many changes are probably for the better. Eating home more often saves money with the added benefits of more family time and healthier eating. Less travel saves money and can help you connect with your community in ways you might not have done before, developing new friendships along the way.
We all get to decide how we react to unpleasant things in our lives. We can fret about losing a job (I was laid off by IBM after 29 years and I survived although it wasn't fun) or losing a house (we've offered to let our son and daughter-in-law live with us to save up for a new house while they rent their underwater Florida home). We can also look at the good things we have in our lives and find opportunities to help those less fortunate that we are … and a glance at the news is the only reminder we need.
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