Happy Thanksgiving (and all that crap)...

     I know the title is a bit cynical, but I trust you will understand my rantings and accept my true feelings by the time this blog is over...(either way I need to express this).  The "holidays".  Remember how this time of year used to be magical when we were kids... Aside from returning to school and the return of colder, nastier weather in the East... (which meant football in the mud and snow, a nice trade-off), we looked forward to traveling to family's houses to gather together and have a great meal and visit with friends and relatives we didn't get to see very often.  And Christmas was a very special holiday, with Christmas concerts and lights ad trees and caroling and annual visits to the relatives.  I am sure that there are similar traditions continuing to this day but I feel the message and the "holiday spirit" that permeated this time of year has been trampled on by political correctness and the abolition of anything spiritual.  The expression "put Christ back in Christmas" should not have to be used.  The joy of giving gifts and the friendliness of the season is being trampled by commercials hawking the latest and greatest, promoting greed and establishing "Black Friday" as the true holiday and Thanksgiving as a day to rest up and fuel up for the carnage at the stores the next day.  Is it truly an economic indicator that we are tracking or the further degradation of our society to purchase the latest and greatest so that our kids (most of whom these days have a false sense of entitlement and few social skills) can keep up with their friends and the Joneses?

     Again, the opinions expressed here are my own and do not reflect the opinions of this blog-site or its readers (although I feel there are some out there that share these views).  I am thankful for a slew of reasons and wish to list many of them here... (because its my blog and I can--:)).  I am thankful for where my life has led me.  I do not regret my past, because regrets belong in the past and there is nothing I can do about them except make sure that I don't fall back into bad habits.  I am thankful for my health...the fact that I am still alive after what I put myself through is truly a blessing.  I am thankful for my relatives...those that are still here (especially those that I have reconnected with) and especially those that have passed on.  It is those members of my family (who I will never forget) that gave me the strength and resolve and character (and there were quite a few characters) to be the man that I have become...(wait a minute, should I thank them or blame them?).  I am thankful to be able to live where I am truly happy... I am thankful that I have a job that I truly enjoy...(despite the crippling hours at times) and the freedom it provides me to live comfortably here in the desert.  I am thankful for my friends, who put up with me in bad times and revel with me in good times...(speaking of good times--4 days to Aruba!!).  I am thankful to be living in the greatest country in the world, even though there are those who are trying to tear down the spirit that made this country what it is... (GOD! bless America, In GOD! we trust, I pledge allegiance to the flag, one nation under GOD!).  I am thankful for the freedom to be able to write my opinions and express them openly without fear of oppression. 

   There are so many other little things that I am thankful for...the sunrises and sunsets,  hiking in the mountains, the golf courses, the beautiful abundance of nature that is here where I live...(to deny the existence of a higher power when viewing the Grand Canyon or an Arizona sunrise truly boggles my mind!). And my mind is truly boggled...(just ask my nieces!).  I am not saying we should go back in time and recapture the spirit I remember, I am saying that allowing that spirit to die is one more knife in the back of family and society.  My sincerest wishes to all my family and friends for a very Happy Thanksgiving and my wish for all to remember the spirit of the day that the Pilgrims and Indians shared on that very first Thanksgiving.... (GOD bless all of you).