Autumn Breeze & Turkey Please!

"Thanksgiving day comes, by statute, once a year, to the honest man it comes as frequently as the heart of gratitude will allow." - Edward Sanford Martin

I love this time of year... (and yes, I've already been into the hot chocolate with marshmallows, fuzzy blankets & flannel pjs!) Maybe it's the beauty of the changing colors or perhaps the crunch of the leaves beneath my feet, possibly the smell of a fireplace or the yummy turkey dinner...  All these are part of it but I think the honest reason I love this season we call autumn is this day we call Thanksgiving.

"A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue but the parent of all other virtues." - Cicero

Thankfully my family is not the type to have a big argument during our Thanksgiving meal... Maybe before and/or after but not during, haha! (I know that will get you going if you're part of the family but relax, I love you all and I am mostly kidding, haha!) My family are the type of people to actually take this holiday for what it is supposed to remain and we give thanks both aloud and in action... I think it's because thankfulness is in our hearts! Most of my family, including myself, are from humble beginnings but we've all been so abundantly blessed, and not in spite of those humble beginnings but because of them! Those beginnings are the kind that create kindness, compassion, generosity, thankfulness and gratitude. "Gratitude is the sign of noble souls." - Aesop

"Not what we say about our blessings but how we use them is the true measure of our thanksgiving." - W. T. Purkiser

Still, we all have a habit of taking some things for granted and today is the day we get to reflect on those small blessings as well...  I've had those years too, you know, the ones when you think what have I to be grateful for this Thanksgiving!? But the truth is, if you have family (even if they are a little crazy at times) or if you have a home (even if it seems a shack to others or is the smallest on the street) or if you have a vehicle (even if it does backfire or squeal its way down the road - my mum and I used to have a K-Car that embarressed the life out of me because of this! ha!) or if you have life at all (even if you're not in the harvest season in that life but in the dead of winter) you have a lot to be thankful for. "For what I give not what I take; for the battle not for victory, my prayer of thanks I make." - O'Dell Shepard.   There are people I loved dearly who cannot celebrate thanksgiving with me this year and that saddens my heart. Although I've lost loved ones and the bitter cold of the autumn wind reminds me once more of the vacancy I feel, I will remain thankful I was able to know them at all and I will honor their memory with my own contentment and gratitude. "Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates vision for our future." - Unknown

This year I am also sharing in the sentiment I've heard of others so many years I can't recount... That Thanksgiving would last longer than the holiday.  Years ago I heard Oprah ask her audience to keep a "Gratitude Journal" and I listened to her tell of it's power... While the power may not be in changing your circumstance it will definitely change your perspective.  I'm not asking you to keep a journal but maybe to take five minutes a day with your children, spouse, mother, father, sister, brother or friend and just voice one thing that you are grateful for in that day.  As well, through our attitudes, actions and compassion for others, let's make this a year of thanks not only the day of thanks. "As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words but to live by them." - John F. Kennedy

"He that thanks with the lips thanks but in part; the full, the true thanksgiving comes from the heart." - J. A. Shedd

Happy Thanksgiving!