Here's a scenario for you to ponder:
You're sitting alone, minding your own business, when somebody comes out of nowhere and says
"On the last Thursday in November you have to kill a turkey, prepare an outrageously costly and elaborate feast, and share it with relatives and friends that you really don't like and who often irritate the jeeters out of you.
And you have to pretend you're happy and having a good time."
While you're trying to ponder that, they suddenly add
"And a few weeks later you have to kill a pine tree, prop it up in your living room, and buy outrageously costly and elaborate gifts for relatives and friends that you really don't like and who often irritate the jeeters out of you.
And you have to pretend you're happy and having a good time."
Please don't let this dissuade you from enjoying the upcoming holidays. It was merely a spontaneous and perfectly innocent thought.
By the way - this year Thanksgiving has been changed from the last Thursday in November to the second to last Thursday in November.
Consider it a courtesy so you have more time in November to start your Christmas shopping.
I have no time to ponder the holidays. I'm still recovering from my nerve wracking drive to town yesterday - which I had to do while wearing only one contact lens.
It's bitterly ironic that when I got home, my new contact lenses had (finally!!!) been delivered.
I wrote a looooong blog post about this yesterday, but decided to delete it. It was the merciful thing to do.
This morning was raw, damp, and cold. I decided to sleep in and get some desperately-needed rest.
Loud crashes and grinding noises jolted me out of Dreamland at around 7:00 a.m.
I looked out the window and saw that the county workers were on their annual tree-trimming expedition.
Every year around this time they come out to the rural areas and cut tree branches away from the power lines.
I'm glad they do this, because there are a few trees on my property that I was considering trimming myself.
My trusty El Cheapo digital camera has new batteries, so I took some pics from my window.
The excitement of rural living never ceases.
You totally pegged the annual Thanksgiving/Christmas debacle. One of the most freeing things I have ever done was to announce to my close and extended family that I would only be buying Christmas gifts for grandkids still of school age. No more agonizing over what to buy for people who literally have everything. We are down to only 4 grands we buy for and they are aging rapidly. And they would rather have money anyway. It’s like getting out of jail. Bah humbug. I don’t even care. My husband and I grill a nice steak for thanksgiving and enjoy the peace after years of doing “who gets the adult children for the holiday - us or the other set of in-laws” thing. We just gave them over. The other in-laws always get them. And we are fine with it.
ReplyDeleteHope you have a lovely and peaceful Thanksgiving. We will, as well.
I wholeheartedly agree with your decision about the holidays - and I think many other people are beginning to endorse your point of view and do the same thing. For many reasons, the holiday season can be a time of agony rather than joy. We need to take control of our lives (and sanity) and not be forced to what is dictated.
DeleteAs a romantic and sentimentalist, there are some aspects of the holidays that I like - - but basically my attitude is humbug.
Have a quiet and peaceful Thanksgiving.
We dont do gifting giving in my family....just decorate and eat and drink copious amount of spirit.
ReplyDeleteYou should have told those guys to give you a branch or two from those trees. If could have been your Christmas tree in a pot or vase. I did that one year. Just bare branches with a few balls and lights. Simple and everyone loved it. After christmas it becomes fire kindling for the fireplace.
I definitely think that gift giving should be optional (or obsolete). The best part of the holidays is the food and decorations.
DeleteDuring my wanderings in the forest I have seen a few small pine trees on my property. I'm always very reluctant to cut them down - but having a branch or two would be nice.
What a cool picture (of Bosco, I mean)!
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, the laughter I enjoyed while reading the first half of this post, subsided when I realized we, too, need to do something about our trees. Someone said the utility company will come do it - and bill us whatever they please.
'Glad your new contacts arrived! … and thanks for the info on the Canadian optician! I'm supposed to dispose of mine every 30 days -- but I'm going for 60 on my next to last pair until the first of the year.
I just couldn't resist writing that first part of my post (humbug!). I sure hope the county won't charge me for trimming the trees. They never have in the past, but I still have my fingers crossed.
DeleteMy contact lenses are 30 day ones, too. I wore my last pair for nearly six months (I'm not kidding), but I didn't wear them very often. When I'm home alone I wear my glasses.
The SaveonLens company is based in Canada, but - strangely enough - my lenses were mailed from Florida.
Hi Jon, Well, to me Thanksgiving is about counting what we have been blessed with. I have no family here in Georgia so this week I am helping prep for the community Thanksgiving dinner. We have 895 people signed up this year. There is a great deal of poverty in the Appalachian Mountains so we are happy to be able to provide this.
ReplyDeleteI hope you can find some blessings to count on Thursday.
♥️Susan
The holidays can be lonely if you don't have any family around. I think volunteering in the community is a generous and wonderful thing to do. And there are many Appalachian people who truly do need the help.
DeleteHave a great Thanksgiving!
Post much identified with, Jon, and much enjoyed. Saw my surgeon today for a three-month exam and he said he's moving to Idaho week after next. I wished him well but admitted I'd have to find somebody closer by. We laughed, we held hands. That and survival are thanksgiving enough for me. I don't need to kill a turkey to be thankful for that.
ReplyDeleteI suppose Idaho would be a bit far to make California house calls. Survival is definitely the very best Thanksgiving blessing, Geo. I hope your holiday is filled with golden moments and positive thoughts. That's all we need......but a turkey dinner wouldn't be bad, either....
DeleteWe don't have a Thanksgiving Day so Christmas is our first gift giving time. A lot of people are going in for artificial trees rather than cut down real ones. Me, I do nothing except send Christmas cards. So pleased your contact lenses arrived.
ReplyDeleteI like real Christmas trees, but it's such a waste to cut them down just for a holiday. The artificial ones are nice enough (except that they don't have a lovely fresh pine scent).
DeleteChristmas cards are a nicer tradition than gifts.
for a good part of my life I was broke. low paying jobs.
ReplyDeleteeveryone felt sorry for me and gave me stuff for Christmas.
stuff I did not want,or need. that required giving a gift in return paid for with money need for luxurys like electric, gas, truck payment,ect
I asked everyone to not buy me anything, but they not listen.
so one yr, I found rabbits. live rabbits.
everyone that gave me stuff, went home with a bunny, and I told them it was most popular bunny in pen.
there was a lot of franic people getting rid of possible knocked up bunnys, fast.
but I have not had to Christmas shop again
That's hilarious, Ron - I never heard of anyone giving live rabbits as Christmas gifts. I guess the best thing to do is to initially establish the fact that you're not going to give gifts. If anyone takes offense, too bad (the holidays give us a great opportunity to make enemies...)
DeleteTake care and Happy Thanksgiving!
Thanksgiving isn't a problem here, and we solved Xmas long ago by thankfully being too poor to buy gifts. I'd like to think we would have worked it out anyway! Sharing food and drink and walks is how we celebrate pretty much every festival. Good tree pictures :-)
ReplyDeleteSharing food and drink and being with the people you really care about is the most important thing. Gift giving should definitely be optional (or banned) - especially since everything is so expensive nowadays.
DeleteHave a great Thanksgiving!
May be the only advantage to being so poor that the family knows you can't really afford to buy presents--ROFL! I have only been buying presents these last few years because of the grandsons. They will never get big, expensive gifts from me but a few inexpensive goodies to open up. They get plenty, anyways, plus it didn't matter if they got very little the first couple years because they don't really grasp what's going on till they are about three--LOL! ;)
ReplyDeleteI love the holidays--even though I spend them alone with the cat--LOL! Or maybe that's why I love them--LOL! And being housebound since 2004 I don't deal with the shopping centers or any of that. I can just enjoy the music and specials, the snow and good will. :)
Rita, the very best way to spend the holidays is being home alone with the cat (or cats) - - watching videos, listening to music, and watching the snow fall. It's always nice to have family and friends, but the older I get the more I savor the solitude!
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful Thanksgiving!
sounds like you have the holiday thing figured out, glad you got your contact lenses.
ReplyDeleteI'm in a humbug mood.
DeleteIt took about six weeks for me to finally get the lenses - thanks to a mistake I made on the order form. I'll be a LOT more careful the next time I order them.
The holidays are for getting together with family and friends and having FUN, and as far as I'm concerned, obligatory gift-giving traditions just add stress. Our kids and grandkids are happy to get money, and my hubby and I exchange cards. Suits us! I told him we should just go to the store and browse through the greeting cards, and then when we find the "right one," we can exchange them, read them... and then put them back and leave the store. (For some reason, he thinks I'm kidding! HA)
ReplyDeleteI've noticed that a lot of people nowadays have "streamlined" their holiday traditions and are doing what is personally comfortable rather than what is forced upon them. That's definitely the best way to go.
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ReplyDeleteThank you, Jodi.
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