Defining Thanksgiving

I work in retail so to me Thanksgiving has tended to be about sales and making goal on Black Friday. I am sick and tired of it. So today I looked up what Thanksgiving meant. This is what I got::

Thanks-givi-ing /ˌθæŋks'gɪvɪŋ/ [thangks-giv-ing]
–noun
1:the act of giving thanks; grateful acknowledgment of benefits or favors, esp. to God.
2:an expression of thanks, esp. to God.
3:a public celebration in acknowledgment of divine favor or kindness.
4:a day set apart for giving thanks to God.

Main Entry: thanks·giv·ing
Pronunciation: \thaŋ(k)s-'gi-viŋ also 'thaŋ(k)s-ˌ\
Function: noun
Date: 1533
1: the act of giving thanks
2: a prayer expressing gratitude
3 a: a public acknowledgment or celebration of divine goodness



Where in that is there anything about buying out the grocery store or having the biggest turkey or an early bird special? NO WHERE. That’s because that is not what’s important. What’s important is remembering all the good things in your life: be it your health, your friends, hope for a chance, your family, your pets, your job, a dream, your home, the fact you have someone who cares about you somewhere, a shoulder to cry on, you have food on the table, a laugh, you have a bed to sleep in, a future, you have heat to get through those cold nights, something to smile at, someone next to you in the bed to cuddle with, or the fact that you just lived to see the next day.
All of this is what we are to be thankful for because those things no matter how small they seem at the time, are gifts. They are divine gifts. So while you eat your dinner, think of how luck you are to have those things. And be thankful.


Also leave a wish for those that don’t. Happy Thanksgiving...


until the fates let us,

Ali