Spread the love
- Happy Thanksgiving 2011 to all! I hope you have a fantastic day spent with family, friends, and good food.
- I’m especially grateful this Thanksgiving. More then in years past, this year the Holidays seem to arrive at the perfect time.
- Maybe in past years I was so busy running I didn’t want to slow down for the holidays. Or maybe I just took the holidays for granted … and all of the good things that were coming my way. Not very grateful
- This year I see more clearly that the goodness and abundance coming my way are things for which I’m truly appreciative. Thank God!
On the lighter side …
- What’s up with the Macy’s Parade on TV for hours at a time?
- As I child my mother would instruct me to go watch the parade on TV when I told her I was bored on Thanksgiving morning.
- I’d watch for a few minutes and quickly become bored with its slow pace and the inane comments by the celebrity host.
- Fifty years later the same show, the same inane comments, and the same slow pace continue year after year. The floats have become moderately more high tech and the characters more reflective of today’s culture. But Snoopy will always be there.
- I believe parades are meant to be attended live – in person … and experienced as part of a large crowd. They are an event.
- So why do they prevail on TV?
- I now realize parades on TV are meaningful as background noise.
- It’s a holiday, you are home, you’re milling about, you don’t have to go to work, you’re doing things you don’t normally do – not even on the weekend. It’s a special day.
- So having the parade on the television as background is part of the holiday. It’s part of what makes the day special.
- We go about some other business (i.e. preparing food in the kitchen, playing with the kids, writing your Thanksgiving blog on the computer) and the parade is on in the background.
- And occasionally, we hear some inane comment that catches our attention. A particular float stops us from our other activity and forces us to watch for a few minutes.
- Once we start to watch, we wait for the next float … and then the next float … and suddenly twenty minutes has gone by and we’ve mindlessly been transferred into the fantasy of the parade.
- We snap out of this fantasy when we hear a pot boil over on the stove or catch a whiff of pie baking in the oven.
- So parades on TV do have a purpose – they are part of the tradition!
Finally …
- I read a humorous article by the WSJ’s Jason Gay titled The 32 Rules of Thanksgiving Touch Football.
- It reminded me of my high school years when I went off and played football every Thanksgiving day with my friends.
- Rule #1: “If you have a healthy relationship with your family and speak to them all the time, you’re playing touch. If you see your family only once a year, it’s tackle.”
- And rule #13: “The count is five “Mississippi.” And it’s a full four syllables—not a rushed “MISS-IPPI” and knocking grandpa to the ground.”
- Have a great Thanksgiving …
Next Blog Title: How to Function with Gumption during the Holidays
Next Blog Date: November 28, 2011