Finding Thanks

It is getting so late in the year we can almost stretch out our arms and pull the next year up to us close and tight. What a year this one has been, huh? After all, I never thought I would ever walk into a bank with a mask on but I did several times this year. It’s been one for the books, and one, many of us would just as soon forget. Still, it’s Thanksgiving, and the year ain’t over yet.

It seems as if the year could be encapsulated in a scene from an old Thanksgiving episode of WKRP in Cincinnati. You probably have seen it but I will cut to the chase, turkeys, when tossed out of a helicopter, cannot fly. Here, see for yourselves.

I don’t know but 2020 seems like we all were employees of WKRP. I suppose that is better than being one of the turkeys.

While we near the end of the year, I hope you take some time to laugh. It is good medicine. If you can, spend some time with family. Bonus points if you can share a meal with them. Put down your phone. Facebook can wait. Twitter is a cesspool. Don’t be distracted by the façade social media projects. Take some time to be quiet and just reflect. Breathe in, exhale.

I hope when you take some time that you find people and things for which you are thankful. They are there if you choose to look. By the way, being thankful is something you determine each day. If you cannot find anything to be grateful for, then do something good for someone else, so they can be grateful for you.

Happy Thanksgiving. God bless us all.

And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name. ~1 Chronicles 29:13

Grateful

I have worked on this blog for a number of years. I have a schedule I try to stick to when it comes to writing and publishing posts. Sometimes, I even thinly sketch out a year’s worth of posts in advance. Usually when I do that, a lot of holes appear in the finished list. That is okay as some of my favorite things I have shared came about from a spur of the moment event or a turn of a phrase that caught my ear. Enough of those come along during the year for me to stay six or seven posts ahead of my schedule most of the time. I also usually know though how trying to adhere to such a schedule will find certain important holidays and unique family days always popping up near a regularly schedule post. Since I try to post every other Thursday, Thanksgiving hits close every year.

This year though, I have struggled with writing a special column for this holiday. As I grow older, and slower, it seems everything around me gains speed. I am not averse to the sensation quickness brings but sometimes I find things sneak up on me before I realize it.

It is also difficult to write anything new or profound knowing some truly struggle to get through this season. Maybe loved ones who once made this season special are no longer physically present or if they are they are not able to participate as they once did. Some are living through hard circumstances or battle demons some of us don’t understand.

Even as I wish otherwise, I know I can’t make those things better by spilling out a series of letters onto a screen.

But, there is hope, that intangible, hard-to-describe thing that sometimes prods us forward. I am grateful for hope.

In the season ahead, I trust all of us, at least for a short time, can shut out the screaming headlines, the negativity some love to sow and the other things that darken hope. Please put down the phone, the tablet, unplug the TV and focus on truly important matters. Find wonder in a newborn child, value the words of an older person, pull a memory close enough to you that it keeps you warm, find a way you personally can help someone who is struggling. In doing so, I hope each of us can find things that make us grateful.

Grateful for each hand we hold
Gathered round this table.
From far and near we travel home,
Blessed that we are able.

Grateful for this sheltered place
With light in every window,
Saying "welcome, welcome, share this feast
Come in away from sorrow."

Father, mother, daughter, son,
Neighbor, friend and friendless;
All together everyone in the gift of loving-kindness.

Grateful for what's understood,
And all that is forgiven;
We try so hard to be good,
To lead a life worth living.

Father, mother, daughter, son,
Neighbor, friend, and friendless;
All together everyone, let grateful days be endless.

Grateful for each hand we hold
Gathered round this table.

Mary Chapin Carpenter “Thanksgiving Song”

https://youtu.be/JVY9dNxlPao

Psalm 106:1

Praise the LORD. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.

30513 Memories: Home For The Holidays

Ready or not the holidays are here. As this post appears, we are wedged in between Thanksgiving and Christmas. At my age, I find myself trying to find ways to make a seven-year-old enjoy these holidays in unique and memorable ways. It often makes me revisit my own memories of this time of year when I was nearer the age she is now. Doing that takes me back to that time and that zip code, 30513.

I recall looking through the Sears catalog in the time before Christmas. While I have often written things down I am not too sure I ever transcribed a list of Christmas gifts I wanted. Still, there were trips to the Western Auto and the dime store where I eyed many things I desired. I also remember visits to see Santa Claus so I could tell him what I wanted. I also recall the tortuous feeling inside when he would ask me if I had been good the whole year realizing there were times when I struggled and failed.

I remember Dad getting out his aluminum extension ladder to hang the Christmas lights on the house. These lights were an older set of varied colors with huge bulbs. Mom usually put up the Christmas tree, off in the corner of the living room, although it also set at times in front of the picture window. My memory also stretches back to a time when we had a silver Christmas tree with a color wheel. I was fascinated by the color wheel more than the odd color of the tree. I wonder if Mom and Dad still have that tree somewhere.

Honestly, I don’t always recall the gifts. I mean I know there was an electronic football game, a Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em boxing game and Hot Wheels. I was also just geeky enough to recall a book about our country’s presidents and a collection of fifty pennies, each one made in a different state. Then there were the clothes: sweaters and pants and shirts. I was less than thrilled with these gifts as this meant I would have to set aside time to try each item on only to face a close examination from Mom on whether or not the item needed to be a different size or altered before wearing. I guess I was short on patience since I had a book to read and had just gotten to the section on Chester A. Arthur.

Spoiled? Yes. Mom and Dad would mention from time to time how their holidays were when they were young. They might get a pencil or an orange. They didn’t drum these facts into my head to make me feel bad but I heard it enough to come to appreciate now how fortunate I had it when I came along. I also know it wasn’t just luck that enabled my parents to provide what they did to us. They both worked hard at jobs and at home to provide and save and spend wisely the money they earned. Such things were not then and are not now pure happenstance.

Looking back, what I remember most from the holidays when I was young were the meals. Insert your own fat, middle-aged guy joke here. It’s the truth though. Yes, there was sweet potato casserole, masked potatoes and gravy, cranberries, green beans, creamed corn, cornbread, slaw, turkey and dressing, glazed ham and pumpkin pie, lime salad, strawberry delight, peanut butter cake and black walnut cake with sugary coconut icing. Those things were there but so was family and sometimes friends. When we gathered together to pray then to eat, that’s really what made the holidays mean something.

Even with a pretty big table and space at a nearby bar just inside the dining room, there was not enough space for everyone in one room. This meant that being one of the younger members of the family, I could eat in the living room. Mom and Dad’s four grandchildren at that time would all get their plates and we would all pile on to the couch or lounge chair or floor and eat away. A football game emanating from the television set would provide the entertainment. Later, gifts would be opened but the real gift had already been opened. We were all together.

I have lived away from there well over half my life now. Even though I can’t really recall the gifts I received from specific holidays, it is those memories from those holidays that form how I expect the holidays to be in some way even to this day. There have been times when I had to work on those holidays and couldn’t be there making me miss what was happening more than I really knew at the time. There were times when I had to make a trip to get there knowing it would be worth the effort. During some of these trips I often wondered about some of my friends from my early years. By then I knew how some of us scattered away from this place and others remained there. I wondered if they were returning to their old home places as well and if they were did they have similar memories hanging around.

For now, Hannah will have her long list of things she will want Santa to bring. She’ll have to sit in Santa’s lap and answer that question he has asked so many kids before about their behavior over the past twelve months. At some point, we will make that drive to where I grew up. We will gather as family as we have for as long as my memory can recall. There will be new toys. There will be food. There may be tears. There will be laughter. There will be love. There will be family. Of all the things I will soak up and drink in at that time it will be the feeling I get knowing this group of people gathered together belongs together. I can only hope that will be a gift Jennifer and I can provide to Hannah to remember when one day she looks back at the holidays she knew as a child.

May God keep you and your loved ones safe and happy through this holiday season.

Bonus holiday playlist:
Bob Dylan "Must Be Santa" 
Kenny Loggins "Celebrate Me Home" 
Patty Loveless "Santa Train" 
The Eagles "Please Come Home For Christmas"
Roger Miller "Old Toy Trains" 
Bill Monroe "Christmas Time's A-Comin'" 
The Band "Christmas Must Be Tonight"
The Soul Saints Orchestra "Santa's Got A Bag of Soul" 
Robert Earl Keen "Merry Christmas From The Family" 
Dan Fogelberg "Same Auld Lang Syne" 

I'm Just Going To Leave This Right Here: The Getting-Through-The-Holidays Edition

I understand the holidays can be hard in a number of different ways. Some miss those who have passed away. Some associate the holidays with sadness or loneliness. Some look at their financial situation knowing a time of belt-tightening is near in order to make it through. Sometimes, a time of togetherness and love often turns sad and dark.

Even in the most enjoyable of holiday situations things can sometimes be fragile. Family members may secretly bicker about what food is being served at the big traditional family holiday celebration. That one lone wolf friend may suddenly obsess over slights from decades earlier. Some may be disappointed in gifts received or the lack of thankfulness offered or not offered in return when they give a gift. It is a thin line separating sanity from insanity when it comes to holiday get-togethers with family and friends.

Still, deep inside, I am an optimist. I believe at least some of the holidays should be filled with some happiness if possible and even if it’s is a fleeting thing. True, it may be hard to find a silver lining in some situations. And truer still, some people just love to bathe and wallow in misery. Still, I like to think if folks try, really try, then something can be found to make getting through the holidays a bit more enjoyable than not trying at all.

Maybe you are one of those struggling with making it through. Maybe the weight of finding the ‘just-right’ gift is weighing you down. Maybe the thought of having to eat more green bean casserole turns your stomach. Maybe the idea of just making it through to January has you down. If this is you let me try to help.

One of my favorite holiday things happened on an episode of a television show which aired October 30, 1978. Maybe because I spent time in both radio and television endears this specific episode to me. Having worked in that world sure makes it easier to understand how something like this can be dreamed up for a promotional event. So, if you are having a time getting into a good mood about the holiday season, just click the link below and receive your free turkey courtesy of our friends at "WKRP in Cincinnati". I’m just going to leave this right here in case you need it. And, be of good cheer, in the words of WKRP’s Jennifer Marlowe, “…a lot of turkeys don’t make it through Thanksgiving.”

Turkeys Away on YouTube