Thanksgiving 2008 #2

Thanksgiving is a terrific holiday. As I've written before when I do speaking engagements, especially those near the holiday, I sometimes speak about Thanksgiving.

I like the idea that it is a completely secular holiday so that makes it easy for everyone to celebrate. I also think that it is a holiday that brings everyone together. Not just families and friends but people all across America are celebrating the same holiday and in the same way. All across America people are sitting down to a turkey dinner. There are regional and ethnic variations but the main food item is the same. Italians have a pasta dish, Vietnamese have spring rolls, in San Francisco the bread for the stuffing is likely to be sourdough.

It can be a good time to concentrate on what is the real meaning of the day. You can go around the table and each person can say what they have been thankful for this year. For one person it might be good health, for another (in today's economic times) it might be having a good job, for someone else it may be a trip they took or someone they met.

You can also have people write a letter about what they want or expect from the coming year and save it to read next year. Sometimes it can be interesting to see whether expectations are met or whether or not anyone is even interested in what they cared about last year.

Thanksgiving 2008 #1

Thanksgiving is one of my absolutely favorite holidays and this year I am dismyed that there seems to be a disppearnace of Thanksgiving. Ok, not totally. The food pages have plenty of articles on how to roast your turkey, making side dishes and that type of thing. However the stores, expect for supermarkets, seem to be totally devoid of Thanksgiving items.

Thanksgiving was never the biggest holiday for decorating or special items but there used to be some of them. Turkey shaped salt and pepper shakers or cornucopia candle holders. Plus other things to decorate the table and chocolate turkeys. This year the store are full of Christmas, Christmas, Christmas already. I wanted to get some of those foil wrapped little chocolate turkeys (you know the kind) to give to some people. I couldn't find them anywhere. Plenty of chocolate santas, lots of red and green decorations, Christmas gift wrap and boxes and lots of other Christmas stuff.

One of the things I have always liked about Thanksgiving is that it is not as commercial as many other holidays and that it does not involve gift giving. I guess that is working against a holiday whose sole purpose is to give thanks.

Time Management

No matter what you think about Barack Obama, the president-elect, practically every article I read about him mentions his discipline and his ability to keep to a schedule. We may not be running for president but it is something we should all keep in mind.

I have often said that we all have 24 hours in a day, no matter if we deliver pizzas or if we're president of the United States. It's what you do with that 24 hours that matters.

I have never been a fan of people haveing absolutely every minute plotted out and no possible deviations from their time schedule but it's important to keep priorities straght and to keep in mind what we need to do that day, that week and that month.

I'm very much in favor of keeping a calendar and allocating an appropriate amount of time to do things. People chronically underestimate the amount of time needed for things. To figure out how long it actually takes you to do something time it. Do you think it takes you 20 minutes to do your bills and it actually takes one and a half hours? Maybe that's why you feel frazzled all the time. You're not allocating enough time for things. It's amazing how we think soemthing will take a half or a quarter of the time it actually takes. Especially things we don't want to do.

Free Stuff and Voting

Tomorrow, November 4 is Election Day for those who live in the United States. Voting is a privilege and we should all get out and vote for the candidates of our choice.

For those who vote there is supposed to be an array of free food available. Krispy Kreme (none in my area) will have a special free star shaped donuts for those with an I Voted sticker. (Not sure how this works since I don't remember ever having received a sticker for voting.) Starbucks is supposedly offering a free coffee for those who vote and for the ice cream lovers among us (me, me) Ben & Jerry's will offer a free scoop between 5 and 8 pm.

There may be others offering something free for voters. Check in your area. So if you didn't plan to vote maybe this will make you get out and vote.