Archive for the 'Thanksgiving' Category

Giving Thanks !

Published on November 21, 2011 in Author Blog, Thanksgiving and writer blog.

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As many of my readers know, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because not only do we have a lot to be thankful for, but it’s also not a materialistic holiday. What can be so bad about a holiday which focuses on good food and being surrounded by loved ones?

Many writers and poets have written about Thanksgiving and gratitude and I always think of this holiday as a good time to engage in gratitude journaling.

If for a moment we slow down, we easily realize all that we have to be thankful for. Starting a gratitude list or journal is one way of putting your life into perspective. It is also a good idea to save this list for difficult times when we need a new perspective cast onto our lives. Some people prefer doing gratitude journaling in the morning and others prefer doing it just before retiring for the night. A writing colleague of mine kept her gratitude journal on her bedside table and made a list each night of five things she was grateful for. This exercise can inspire you to look for positive events during the day. It will help take the focus off the negative. After a while that attitude spills over into everything else you do.

Here is one of my favorite poems to share this time of year. It is from Mary Oliver’s first collection of poetry called, Thirst.

Messenger*

by Mary Oliver

My work is loving the world.
Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird—
equal seekers of sweetness.
Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.
Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.

Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?
Am I no longer young, and still not half-perfect? Let me
keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,

which is mostly standing still and learning to be
astonished.
The phoebe, the delphinium.
The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.
Which is mostly rejoicing, since all the ingredients are here,

which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart
and these body-clothes,
a mouth with which to give shouts of joy
to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,
telling them all, over and over, how it is
that we live forever.

• from Thirst.© Beacon Press, 2006; (copyrighted material for educational use only)

Wishing you all a wonderful feast on Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving in Paris

Published on November 30, 2009 in inspiration, Journaling, Journals, Notebooks, Thanksgiving and Writing, journaling.

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I am writing you from Paris where my family and I just celebrated our favorite holiday together—Thanksgiving. My son, Josh, an NYU student, is in the midst of a semester abroad here. Although this is not a French holiday—we thought we would join him and have our own celebration. It has been a feast, the days before and after our Thanksgiving, as we enjoyed the pleasures and decadences of French dining from the cheeses, French breads and pastries. (Although I must say there is a strong lack of fresh fruits and vegetables, and today’s task will be to locate a fresh market).

On Thanksgiving Day, we only had one glitch—the French do not eat turkey. In fact, through the eyes of Frenchmen, turkey is served to peasants and sometimes only at Christmas. It is rarely, if ever seen on restaurant menus. At the restaurant we chose for our private Thanksgiving feast, I did manage to find a small hen which was a fabulous substitute. I ordered mashed potatoes and salad—just the type of meal I would have prepared, had we celebrated at home. In the end, I came to realize that home is where your family is and the fact that we were all together was even more important than the food which was served. After all,

Thanksgiving has always been our favorite family holiday for as long as I can remember. One of the reasons we love it, is that it is does not have religious connotations. I recently learned that the first Thanksgiving was celebrated in St. Augustine, Florida, America’s oldest towns and the one that all Florida school children (including my own) have visited at least once during their youth. The one thing I remember about that town, this many years later is the old school house and the dunce cap worn for misbehavior and as the name implies, ‘stupidity.’ In those days they definitely knew nothing about being politically correct! They would never get away with such a practice today.

In addition to Thanksgiving being a good excuse to get together and eat with loved ones, it is a time to give thanks for the harvest and to give thanks, in general. The dinner table as a perfect place to reconnect and tell stories and catch up. It’s fun to reminisce about past holidays and how in the 1970s my husband and I had our honeymoon in France. We discussed all we are thankful for. In years gone by, when my kids were young we used to feed the homeless at the local shelter in Orlando where they fed 1500+ people in a big tent downtown. My kids would go to the buffet and fill up plates of turkey, mashed potatoes and yams accompanied by a bun and serve all the homeless men, women and children. There was enough gratitude to go around. They were thankful for the warm meal, and we were thankful to be able to help and for the life we lived. As we struggle with social and economic issues we must never forget all the good which surround us and to always find time to journal our blessings.

In fact, this is a good week to do some powerful gratitude journaling!