Thanksgiving musings

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone. While the actual holiday may be over, I am still feeling pretty thankful for a number of reasons. I have a great family, beautiful wife and daughters, terrific friends and a job I have always dreamed of. The list could go on and on, but you get the point.

I am still feeling a little bit stuffed from one of the best Thanksgiving dinners I have ever had. Turkey, potatoes, side dishes, salad, rolls and pies, it was a meal to remember. I am not so sure what made it better than previous meals, but it just had the “IT” factor going on, and I enjoyed it. I may have helped myself to a few “second helpings” (guilty as charged) and I am quite sure that I was snacking on leftovers later in the evening too! I love Thanksgiving!

Of course, having the Detroit Lions winning their first game on Thanksgiving Day in many years was also nice, especially since my mother-in-law is a Green Bay Packers fan. Luckily neither of us is a poor winner or loser, so the game was just that, a game, but it was still nice to see the Lions destroy the Packers.

I realize of course, that the “great” Aaron Rodgers was not playing. If your team is built around just one player, you reap what you sow. I honestly do not buy the argument that the Packers just cannot function without Rodgers, but either way, GO LIONS!

Another reason that I am thankful is that neither my wife nor I have the urge to get up SUPER early to stand in line outside stores for a chance at a good deal. And there would be no way in “you know where” that we would camp outside for days to save a few bucks. We pride ourselves on watching our money and cutting corners where we need too, but we agree that being one of those Black Friday shoppers is just not in the cards for us. We did it once and that was enough.

I have no problem with others doing it, however. If that is fun for you, by all means do it. I would rather stay home; hang with the family and putting up the tree and decorating the house, which is what I was told we would be doing over the next few days. I usually venture out later in the afternoon on Black Friday and pick up a few things, but even then, it is not a “must do” for me.

As we were heading down to the in-laws on Thursday morning, our oldest daughter said something that made us proud as parents. Out of nowhere (or maybe it was due to the Christmas music playing in the car), Hannah said, “Do you know why I am excited about Christmas?”

Expecting to hear the typical refrain of presents or some other reason that children love the Christmas holiday, Hannah said that she likes the fact that she gets to spend time with everyone in her family at Christmas.

As a parent, if that doesn’t melt your heart, there is something wrong with you! Living in a society that is focused on “me, me, me” it was heartwarming to hear my daughter say that.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday. Now I must head to the basement to dig out the Christmas decorations!