Happy Thanksgiving!

by Linda

No matter where you are or what you're doing, I wish you a blessed day!

I hope your day is filled with friends and family, love and happiness! And food! (or not!)

...

From all of us at FOL to all of you:

We are so grateful for you! Thank you for stopping by this blog and reading! We are so often inspired by your comments! Thank you for taking a moment to leave us one!

...

“Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.”

— William Arthur Ward

...

Pause a Moment.

by Carol

from the Field Gallery, Martha's Vineyard

We have all acknowledged it. The world is getting smaller, the years are going by faster, far away places are getting more similar. You can go to McDonald's in Shanghai, and eat Thai food in Hoboken. 

I'm OK with all that. We are more a part of "the globe" everyday and that helps us appreciate our similarities.(or it should). It helps us to find common purpose.(or it should.) But we do lose a little individuality, a little ethnicity. I hate to see that go.

And now the seasons are shortening. We take down the New Year's decorations and put up hearts for Valentine's Day. We advertise bathing suits in the midst of the March snow. It's to give us more time to shop for things we don't really need. And this time of year, my least favorite thing happens. Christmas decorations are in the stores, our local streets are decorated. I heard a woman interviewed on Election day in North Carolina. She was waiting for the polls to close so that she could transform the town square into Santa's village for the town's Christmas parade and celebration, complete with eggnog.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. No presents to buy, no fancy color-themed clothes (unless you want them.) Just good food, family time and gratitude. So join me, won't you? Put your shopping list aside at least until Black Friday. Help your Mom makes some leaf wreaths. Rip up the bread to stuff the turkey. Make an apple pie. Take a walk outside.

But most of all, make your gratitude list. Make it in your head if not on paper. Look around your table, whether it seats 3 or 40, and think about the souls who share your life. Consider your own traditions. Take in your surroundings. Treasure your time with those you don't see often. And say a little prayer of thank you for all you have been given. Wilferd A. Peterson calls it "Thanksliving" It's a verb. What follows is his list of how to do it. It's a good list.

                                -By living your life triumphantly
                                -By being grateful to all who have helped you
                                -By you doing things for others
                                -By striving to make others happy
                                -By helping to be an inspiration to others
                                -By living each day to the fullest
                                -By using your talents and obligations to be invested for the common good
                                -By facing the challenges of life as a challenge for achievement
                                -By enjoying what you have and sharing it with others

Happy Thanksliving Everyone!

Always be Grateful

by Terri

This Thanksgiving was the first in several years that my oldest son was home for the holiday.  He and his girlfriend have been living in Dallas and it never made sense for them to come home for Thanksgiving when they would be coming three weeks later for Christmas. But they moved back home a couple of months ago so we were all together for Thanksgiving and it was wonderful!  And I was so busy enjoying it (not to mention cooking, cooking, cooking) that I didn’t take one. single. photo.  You heard me right. Not one. Well, there was one.  Taken on my cell phone during an after dinner hike in the desert. 

 

My excuse is that I was so in the moment that picking up my camera never entered my mind. And I’m both happy and sad about that.  Happy that I was really able to focus on what was going on around me, the smiles on the faces of my family, the laughter and the fun.  We watched the National Dog Show and some old home movies (lots of laughter there!) And sad because I would have really liked to have had pictures of our day together. But unless you hire a professional photographer to come and record those moments, you will either be more focused on the picture taking trying capture them yourself or you will miss having the photos. I think I'd rather be focused on the moment. We'll have other photos but we will never have this moment again. "That it will never come again is what makes life so sweet." ~Emily Dickenson

But I am so grateful for the wonderful holiday we had, whether it is recorded in photos or not. So very grateful. I hope yours was wonderful as well and maybe you even managed to grab some photos while you were at it. I hope you did but more than that I hope you were able to be in the moment and enjoy it all.

Let’s don’t stop focusing on gratitude. In the coming month, there will be so many things, large and small, to be grateful for. Even if it’s just a sunny day or a call from a friend. My hope is that practicing gratitude during the month of November will become a habit that will last all year. Our December Monthly Focus here at FOL is “Celebrate the Moment”. That’s exactly what I plan to do!

Happy Thanksgiving!

by Linda

He who thanks but with the lips
Thanks but in part;
The full, the true Thanksgiving
Comes from the heart.
~J.A. Shedd



...



Happy Thanksgiving!

by Linda

 

 

 

 

May your stuffing be tasty
May your turkey plump,
May your potatoes and gravy
Have nary a lump.
May your yams be delicious
And your pies take the prize,
And may your Thanksgiving dinner
Stay off your thighs!
~Grandpa Jones

...



Something handed down . . .

by Kim

tradition

noun

1.  the handing down of statements, beliefs, legends, customs, information, etc., from generation to          generation, especially by word of mouth or by practice.

Thanksgiving is a tradition in itself, but within this tradition there are many, many more traditions. 

Traditions create bonds, they can give us comfort, and they connect us to our past. They also help to define the uniqueness of our families, no matter how small.

Ever since I've been old enough to remember, there has been a tradition in our family that I look forward to during Thanksgiving, with great anticipation. It goes back at least 3 generations to my Great Grand Aunt Tillie. She always brought the coveted homemade egg noodles, all lovingly done by hand. When she passed my grandmother made them and when she could no longer make them, my mom did.

Unfortunately I have no way of knowing just how long this tradition has been passed down and we don't have her original recipe, but after starting my own family over 20 years ago I think I have it pretty darn close!

My husband and I have continued this with our kids, and have always included them in the process. When I was too pregnant to get close enough to the counter to roll the dough, he took on that job. After the dough rests, I then carefully roll it up and cut them, and the kids unroll them and lay them to dry overnight...it's not only a family tradition, its become a family affair.

Honestly, I could probably do Thanksgiving without a turkey, but it just wouldn't be the same without those egg noodles, which we cook in chicken broth if you were wondering.

So tomorrow, we will be covered with flour (and most likely the floor too), making new memories with an old tradition, and strengthening bonds that comfort not only our senses but our connections to those who came before us.

For this I am very grateful!

Do you have any interesting Thanksgiving traditions?

"What an enormous magnifier is tradition!

How a thing grows in the human memory

and in the human imagination, when love,

worship, and all that lies in the human heart

is there to encourage it." -Thomas Carlyle