Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday

Thanksgiving has long been my favorite holiday, for so many reasons....

1) No decorating (except the table, if one so chooses).

2) The holiday takes place during the fall, with milder temperatures and the beauty of autumn colors all around.

3) No parties to attend or throw, no cards to send and no buying or wrapping of gifts.

4) 4-day weekend!

5) Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Rockettes!!

6) Once the festivities of Thursday are over, the rest of the 4-day weekend is FREE!!

7) Preparing the meal isn't really labor for me...I love to cook, and watching my family's enjoyment of the outcome of my efforts makes it all worthwhile.

8) It's the one holiday set aside during the entire year that allows one to focus primarily on family togetherness and being grateful for what one has.

Increasingly, I have had to fight to avoid the insidious creeping in of Christmas on my favorite holiday. When I'm shopping for the Thanksgiving meal, it takes some of the joy out of the experience to hear Christmas music being played over the loudspeakers in the store. Retailers have long been too quick to jump the gun on the Christmas season and haul out the decorations, Christmas music and commercials much too early, but in the last several years the situation has bordered on the ridiculous. The early Christmas retail juggernaut is getting way out of hand and threatens to drown out or obscure Thanksgiving altogether. Polls show a majority of Americans feel that retailers should wait until after Thanksgiving to begin the holiday shopping push and that stores should not be open on Thanksgiving Day. Ah, but one can't fight city hall.

What we just have to do is take it upon ourselves to try and ignore all the frantic Christmas pushing and to concentrate on what makes this holiday so special: a time for family and friends, good food, celebration of our blessings, and for being thankful for what we have.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!