Skipping Thanksgiving

My daughter has told me of several friends who have already put up their Christmas trees. In fact, they've been up almost a week already.

Christmas songs are playing on the radio and in my house, and the stores have been filled with red, white, and greenery for weeks.

It's easy to miss Thanksgiving.

I have to admit that there are parts of it that I would rather skip. Even though I am a good cook, turkey is not an entree that I do well. Unfortunately, no one in my family thinks that a ham is a reasonable substitute. It's their loss, really.

We are not big Black Friday shoppers, but I definitely resent the loss of a day of rest and family before the Christmas shopping season starts in earnest.

Like I said, it's easy to miss Thanksgiving.

This next week, let's see if we can keep it in focus. In fact, let's try for the rest of the month. Thanksgiving is about gratitude. If we just focus for a day, then our gratitude can be very simple and shallow, but if we keep looking and digging a little deeper, our gratitude can become quite profound, even if we don't feel like we have much to be grateful for to begin with.

We also need to tell people about it. Sharing our gratitude with others allows them to discover gratitude for themselves. It's a win-win situation every time.

In my case, today I'm grateful for my writing group who inspires me when I have no idea what to write. It's because of them that we have our focus today.

Tell me. What are you grateful for today?