No, Thanksgiving isn’t celebrated as a national holiday in Ireland as far as I know.
On the other hand, this old Irish Blessing is perfect for today. And, with this crazy, mixed-up world this Thanksgiving Day, we all need the thoughts and words more than ever.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Santa Claus waves to spectators along Central Park West during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
This week, Santa Claus will wave to the crowds along Central Park West at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade—his official signal that the Christmas season begins. You will watch the parade on Thanksgiving, won’t you?
For me, the moment Santa arrives at Macy’s means Christmas preparations and traditions can officially begin. I adore Christmas customs, and throughout this month I’ll be sharing a few of my favorites—starting with the Advent wreath.
If you attend a traditional liturgical church, you will probably light the first candle of the Advent wreath this Sunday, November 30.
Not familiar with the tradition? Here’s the quick version:
Advent, from adventus meaning “coming” or “visit,” encompasses the four Sundays before Christmas and ends on Christmas Eve. It marks the beginning of the liturgical year for many Christian churches.
The observance began sometime after the 4th century, and by the Middle Ages expanded to include not only Christ’s birth in Bethlehem, but also His promised return and His presence with us through the Holy Spirit.
Advent services often center on an evergreen wreath—its circle representing eternity and its greenery symbolizing the coming of Christ, the Light of the World. The wreath holds three purple (or blue) candles, one pink candle, and one white candle. One candle is lit each week:
Some churches instead focus on the themes of Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love.
To learn more about Advent traditions, click here.
If your church doesn’t use an Advent wreath, creating one at home can become a beautiful family tradition. It’s a simple, meaningful way to keep Christ at the center of your Christmas season—and to gently push back against the holiday’s commercial chaos.
For little ones, here’s a link to an Advent wreath coloring page and other fun Christmas activities to keep small hands busy.
Is an Advent wreath part of your Christmas celebration?
Blogging about thankfulness and gratitude in November is cliché.
On the other hand, there’s no better time than the month when our nation pauses for an entire day to give thanks.
Sadly, gratitude is not a natural disposition in most people. I understand.
It’s hard to be thankful, especially when those terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad days gang up and all we see around us is hurt and pain or disappointment and anger.
Gratitude often doesn’t make sense, but it’s a much-needed discipline to push off negativity.
Here are two ideas for finding things to be grateful for:
I use a string of ten beads to help me recall why I should be thankful.
Three beads remind me to be grateful for three people who touch my life. Six beads to say thanks for six things, events, and occurrences, and the final bead reminds me to give thanks to our creator.
My grateful beads came from a craft fair. You can find lots of choices for grateful reminders on Etsy, just search grateful beads.
Another helpful (and fun) way to jog memories about what to be grateful for is the M&M thankful game. It’s the perfect addition to any Thanksgiving Day gathering. All my family loves this game, especially me, because when you finish your card, you get to eat the M&Ms! Now that’s a game I can get into.
Being grateful is always a choice. It shouldn’t be limited to November or Thanksgiving Day.
Wouldn’t it be lovely to seek out things to be thankful for daily rather than only one day or one month per year?
By Fall, blooms on most trees and shrubs are gone. Tree leaves and plants are changing color and losing their foliage, and dying. We have three trees in our yard that are loaded with blooms.
Our Confederate roses have outdone themselves.
They are a popular shrub or small tree in southern gardens. They’re not a rose at all, but a hibiscus from southern China that loves the friendly climate of the South. The blooms only appear in the fall and change color throughout the day from white to pink, then darker pink or even red.
The folklore behind the changing color says a slain soldier fell beside a blooming Confederate rose tree, and his blood spilled into the ground. The flowers, which had been white in the morning, absorbed the soldier’s blood throughout the day.
This article in Dave’s Garden describes our trees perfectly.
“That sort of story makes for interesting reading, but the flowers do, indeed, live up to the specific epithet, ‘mutabilis,’ which means ‘variable or changeable.’ All are large and showy and look somewhat like a large, delicate rose. Some are single, and many are double.
“On some specimens, the flowers that open early in the morning are snowy white, but by evening, they have turned to deep rose. On the second day, they wither and fall from the shrub. On other shrubs, the opening blossom may be pink, turning to white or even a darker pink as it ages. Either way, many buds are waiting for their day in the sun.
“At any time, as many as three different colors may show at one time as the flowers fade or darken to their various hues. On some single-flowered specimens, flowers are red and remain so for the duration of their bloom. Some are pink and gradually turn a darker shade of pink as they age.”
They are a lovely addition to any yard, and the bees love them.
So far, the deer have left them alone — which can’t be said of all our plants.
It’s sad, but we don’t mind. It’s all part of our commitment to being a Certified Wildlife Habitat that provides water, food, and nesting. We do love watching the does and fawns.
Fall has officially arrived, bringing a stretch of major holidays. The first being Columbus Day, celebrated on October 13 this year.
Columbus Day is a federal holiday in the United States, celebrated on the second Monday in October, to commemorate Christopher Columbus’s landing in the Americas on October 12, 1492.
Made a U.S. federal holiday in 1937, interestingly, thirteen states—Alaska, Hawaii, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon, South Dakota, Vermont, Washington, and
Wisconsin—don’t recognize the holiday.
Many Italian Americans celebrate their heritage, highlighting their contributions to U.S. history.
Fire Department trucks move along Fifth Avenue in the 75th Annual Columbus Day Parade, Manhattan. the largest celebration of Italian-American heritage and culture in the US — Photo by Sam Aronov
On this day in 1492, one of the sailors on the Pinta sighted land, an island in the Bahamas, after 10 weeks of sailing from Palos, Spain, with the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa María.
The Italian explorer Christopher Columbus believed he’d reached East Asia. He’d sighted Cuba and thought it was China. When the expedition landed on Hispaniola, he thought he’d found Japan.
His discovery introduced Europeans to the New World, which led to cultural exchange, commerce, and exploration, and eventually to the discovery of the real westward route to the Indies.
But Columbus Day and the man who inspired it also generate controversy. Many argue that Europeans got land, slaves, and gold, while the aboriginals were dispossessed, enslaved, and infected.
Protests of Columbus Day celebrations resulted in the creation of Indigenous Peoples’ Day in the 1990s to coincide with Columbus Day. Many honor the day and not Columbus.
Columbus Day reminds me of the jingle I had to learn for school:
Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492.
I learned it’s only the first line of a 493-word poem by Winifred Sackville Stoner, Jr. Check out “The History of the U.S.” by Winifred Sackville Stoner if you want to review your US history.
Which will you celebrate today, Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples’ Day, or both?
I’ll be celebrating both, but most of all being thankful that my teacher never made me recite Stoner’s entire poem!
Welcome Pamela S Thibodeaux, my Guest Author Spotlight today. She’s here to tell us about her novel, My Heart Weeps.
Meet Pamela ~ Award-winning author, life coach, and spiritual mentor.
“Inspirational with an Edge!” ™ is her author tagline and also defines her life, her writing, and her coaching style.
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Pamela is sharing with us why she wrote My Heart Weeps.
My beloved passed away in 2009. A couple of years later, while talking with a gentleman whom I’d been seeing, I made the remark, “I feel your love for me in every fiber of my being, and my heart weeps because I’m just not ready for anything more than friendship.” My next comment was, “That sounds like a book title.”
This book took eight years to write, was released on the anniversary of my husband’s death, and is the story of one woman’s journey from grief into new life and parallels mine.
When life takes everything, your world stops. Can a retreat heal the broken lives of two wounded souls?
Melena Rhyker’s world shattered the day her husband died. Lost without the man of her dreams, she digs deep to find a path out of her sorrow. Discovering an artistic retreat, she vows to find a reason to carry on and focus her life in a new direction. Can she heal her own heart and find her new beginning?
Garrett Saunders knows pain. He’s spent most of his life hiding from his past. Regrets and lies haunt him, but he longs to leave them behind and embrace his true self. Will Melena’s efforts to rebuild her life in the face of such grief encourage him to exorcise his own demons of guilt and shame?
Will two hurting people find peace, wholeness, and perhaps love in the heart of Texas?
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~EXCERPT from My Heart Weeps
At 6 p.m., she pulled into the carport, turned off the engine and laid her head on the steering wheel.
“Well, I’m home again. Made it through another agonizing eight hours or so, now to get through another night.”
Gathering every ounce of courage she could summon, she disembarked from her vehicle, retrieved the mail from the box beside the door, and entered the house. She thumbed through the envelopes and advertisements, then laid them on the table and poured a glass of juice. She reached for the bottle of over-the-counter pain reliever and froze.
It would be so easy to end this pain.
Oh, what an enticing thought. Just take a handful of pills and end it all. Would she wake up in heaven? Would Jesus meet her there? Would Jonathan? What about the kids or Mama—would they understand? Or would she destroy them? Where was the faith she claimed to have? Why was it failing her now?
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To see how love and faith conquer all, grab your copy of Pamela Thibodeaux’s second-chance women’s fiction at these retailers:
Amazon: https://amzn.to/4lN4mr4
Other Online Retailers: https://books2read.com/MyHeartWeeps
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DISCLAIMER: I do not read every book/author I host. Please do your book research before you buy.
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