Let's Talk About Thanksgiving

     It's quite sad, but people often simply skip right over this wondrous holiday and head right to Christmas, and unfortunately, I'm not immune to this concept. Just today I was out Christmas shopping for friends and family, and I haven't even gotten ingredients for my Thanksgiving dish yet! I'm not saying you should wait and do all your Christmas shopping in December, and cram to get everything done, like I always seem to end up doing, but I do you think you should keep Thanksgiving well in mind whilst you go about your Christmas preperations too. I mean, I think a holiday emphasizing gratefulness for existing things is a pretty essential predecessor to a holiday that often gets advertized as one that's all about presents and shopping (which is so absolutely NOT the point of Christmas at all). So please people, don't get wrapped up in all that Black Friday propaganda and pre-Christmas brouhaha. Just take a step back, bake a pie, turn on the Macy's parade, and enjoy the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.
    As for a movie recommendation, I can't think of anything specifically Thanksgiving themed, but one great movie about thankfulness is "Charlie and The Chocolate Factory". This movie deserves more than just a one paragraph little blurb, so I'll have to post about it more extensively later, but for now, I'll just touch on the essentials: Charlie Bucket is the epitome of a contented, grateful child. Even when he gets the Golden Ticket, his greatest wish in the whole wide world, he offers to give it up for money to help his family. He's just thankful for a loving family, and wants to make them happy by helping out financially. What a selfless little kid. I think we could all take a page out of his book now and then.
    

Random Thanksgiving Memory: Okay, so I now realize that elementary school, haven that it was, was basically just a glorified daycare. We didn't really learn a whole lot, and we had these big elaborate parties for every possible occasion. I mean, we had cookies and juice and special crafts for Columbus Day, and now I couldn't even tell you when Columbus day is. Anyway, I remember that every single year at Thanksgiving, our teachers would give us the same ridiculous little cartoon strip to color in and write the dialogue for. It was this little sequence about some pilgrims who baked a pumpkin pie, but it ended up burning or something, so it wasn't edible. The pilgrims, crafty settlers that they were, found a solution to their rock hard pie problem by utilizing the pie as a wheel on their cart instead. Why I remember this, I couldn't say, but I guess maybe the silly comic strip just really spoke to me. (Or maybe I remember it simply for its ridiculousness). If anyone has any idea about the comic strip I'm referring too, please let me know. I would love to have a copy of it.


     Well people, however you celebrate this deliciously memorable day, I hope you enjoy it as much as I'm sure I will. And seriously, sleep in on Friday. That adorable coat will still be on sale at 3 in the afternoon, I promise. Read all about Black Friday in SE Wagner's blog post.
                                                                                                      -VaughnDL