An Untitled Thanksgiving Poem
"...these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come..."
The past few weeks, I’ve written about Thanksgiving in some way or another. As I’ve said before, it’s a holiday that I think we often overlook. It’s a beautiful time to reflect on the blessings God has gifted us and the people in our lives who we remain thankful for year after year. And, this year, celebrating it with the Little Miss was a true and precious delight.
As our favorite holiday, my wife and I opted to celebrate Thanksgiving not once, or even twice, but on four different occasions in the past two weeks (not to mention the attitudes of thankfulness we’ve been hoping to cultivate throughout November).
First, we celebrated it with members of our church, their families, and the youth we used to volunteer with every Wednesday night. It was loads of fun and, while we couldn’t stay the whole night because of the Little Miss, we did get to catch up with plenty of folks we hadn’t seen in months. Then, we celebrated with some of Hannah’s family, and her brother was introduced to the Little Miss for the first time (which was precious in and of itself).
On Thanksgiving Eve, we did a “Friendsgiving” with some of our best friends here in Los Angeles, and then, naturally, on Thanksgiving proper, we stayed home and enjoyed the time together, reflecting on the blessings in our lives. We made our own turkey, assembled our other side dishes, and culminated the evening with a viewing of the original 1938 A Christmas Carol to kick off Christmastime (a tradition we’ve kept from my childhood).
Since the holiday, I’ve been trying to think about what this week’s edition was going to be about. I’ve already discussed Thanksgiving at length, and I’ll wait until next week to start the Christmas festivities here. As you can already tell, this one was released a bit later than usual and will no doubt be much shorter than most of my other ramblings.
So, instead of continuing on and on, I thought that after reading Shel Silverstein’s Where The Sidewalk Ends to the Little Miss every night for the past few weeks, I’d try my hand at a poem too… Admittedly, I’m not as talented as Mr. Silverstein, but I can rhyme too!
Turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie, are part of what makes the day go by. Family, friends, even strangers too, all sit together, through and through. Exchanging dishes and plesantries, there's much gratitude for all we see. And even when we all go home, we're sure to let our thankfullness show. God as my witness, I do attest, that our family is ever-blessed. When hardships come, and trials remain, His grace abounds, His mercy reigns. An American holiday at its core, Thanksgiving thrives forevermore. No matter our heritage, nation, or creed, we'd all be better off killing our greed. So, let us be thankful for this holiday time, as we reminice on our days and remember our prime.
This Week’s Petty Pick
Well, now that it’s basically Christmastime, there’s no time like the present to start watching underrated Christmas movies! That’s right, for all of December, the weekly Petty Picks will be non-traditional Christmas flicks. This week, it’s Jack Frost, which is better than people give it credit for being.
Starring Michael Keaton as a man literally named Jack Frost, he becomes a snowman in a last-ditch effort to make good on the promises he made to his son. It’s a good one, and is fun for the whole family. Plus, after all this time, the snowman doesn’t actually look half bad!