Today on all days, as I reflect on Thanksgiving pasts, I can’t help but be filled with gratitude for all that God has blessed our little family of four with. Our life may not be perfect, but it is filled with love, happiness, and joy. I have a husband who loves our family and provides for us daily. I have parents who embrace us and help us whenever we need it. We have extended family, cousins, friends who love us and our children with a fierceness that I didn’t know existed. Our health, two cars that work, jobs that have provided for our needs, opportunities that create a great life for us, and food to eat each day.
I am so extra thankful this year for a God who loves us so much that He blesses us in ways we could never imagine. I have grown friendships and continued friendships that make me a better person. I have friends who have finally received the blessings promised to them and I am ever so grateful for those things.
For all these reasons, I will be breaking my own tradition and won’t join the mobs of people tonight to grab more things we don’t need. I won’t be skipping out on a family meal just to ensure that I’m in line to wait to get some money off of something that I don’t have any use for. I also won’t show the stores that I somehow condone them creeping into Thanksgiving with their Black Friday sales and shenanigans. Can we not take one day to give THANKS for what we DO have instead of cutting it short just to get.more.stuff?
I took Charlie this morning to Walmart to grab the last-minute things we needed for our feast today, Charlie told a worker, “Happy Thanksgiving!” I asked her if she was supposed to come back tonight and she informed me that after working her shift this morning, she also had to come back tonight at 10 p.m., just twelve hours later. After that she said, “Yep, it sucks!” {sorry, mom!}
Her commentary made me sad. It confirmed what I already pretty much knew – that these stores aren’t just about the bottom line of extending their big sales, they are taking over Thanksgiving and taking people away from their families – just to spend time with a bunch of crabby, rude, deal-hungry consumers. I’m fearful that next year, we won’t even have a Thanksgiving anymore. So as much as I love a deal, I won’t be spending any time at a store tonight. I’m still even debating heading out tomorrow. I assure you that you’re family won’t remember the $50 you got off a TV the won’t last forever. Your child won’t remember the LEGOs you bought at “rock-bottom” prices, but they will remember the way you shared your pumpkin pie or hugged them tightly.
For today, I will hold close the most precious things to me and count my current blessings. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!
Mindy says
Totally agree, it’s ridiculous!!