Holidays

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Thanksgiving is supposed to be the time that we gather with family and friends and celebrate all that we are thankful for, and remember the first thanksgiving shared between the Pilgrims and the Native Americans – a time of kindness and generosity, and celebration of God’s provision.

All too often, however, it is a time of stuffing ourselves with food at a “mandatory” family gathering, watching the clock until you can make a run for it.

I remember years ago I could not bear another of those type of functions. My mother had died and my dad’s current wife made every event painfully unpleasant, just by her sour disposition. So that year I took a stand. I announced I had other plans, and then put the word out that if you had no place to spend Thanksgiving, or did not want to go to the place you “had to” go to, come on over. The only rules were: bring food to share, something that represented a happy Thanksgiving memory, and then tell why the memory was so special.

It turned out to be a wonderful day. Relaxed friends, new recipes, great stories of times shared in the past. Non-one felt like the poor add-on at someone else's family function.

At just about dessert time, my dad telephoned, asking if he could escape his own feast to come to the mutt party! He showed up in time for pumpkin pie, saying he was glad to have a break from “the war department”, which was his way of saying the stressful home front.

I pray as this Thanksgiving approaches that we make our events a time of celebration and peace – not war. That we remember what friendship, abundance, and God's provision really are. If we are able to gather with family, that we actually focus on being there, and not count the minutes until we can escape.

To all, happy Thanksgiving.

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