28 Days of Thankfulness

Happy November 1^st everyone! I have decided that I am going to attempt to do something common at this time of year in the blogging sphere, making a point of being thankful daily until Thanksgiving and posting about the topic I’ve chosen for the day. I don’t think being thankful is a struggle for me, I am typically very thankful and appreciative of everything good that comes my way, as I am well aware that they are undeserved gifts and can vanish in the blink of an eye. However, I thought it might be fun, would mix up the variety of posts I’ve had thus far, and would cause me to be extra mindful of how thankful I should be for all of the good and blessings in my life. Thereby I have decided to post a daily thankfulness post for you all to read if you would like.

            What’s that? Did you read me right? Yes, I am promising to attempt and post every single day this month… you all know how I am about keeping up on posts… And there's a good chance this may end up similar to my New Year’s resolutions: rather strong in the beginning and then dwindling until at this time of year I cannot recall a smidge of the grand aspirations I had for the year. We shall see how this goal fares, eh?

            We will start today, as day one. Today I am simply thankful that October is over and it is November! Wrapped in this is thankfulness for new beginnings and fresh starts. October was an intensive month health wise, with many new adjustments (and yes, I’m still planning on getting that health update posted somewhere in there!). I feel that November brings a fresh month where we have a solid routine going and hopefully fewer unknowns.

            November also means that Halloween is over! My least favorite of occasions all year has finally passed us over and we can move onto more joyous affairs. I no longer have to navigate the isles draped in black, with their skeletons and hanging death eaters, or see the gross amounts of candy peddled at the checkout stands. The surge of horror films depicting hideous murders will be waning to make room for better movies and the overkill of all things orange will allow the rest of the fall colors back. 

I don’t mind a designated dress up day, nor do I mind celebrating the harvest. Gardening is difficult work and when your produce comes up successfully it certainly brings you joy and relief, and we don’t even need to depend upon it for survival due to our sprawling modern grocery stores, I can’t imagine how much greater the cause for celebration would have been back in the time when one’s farm was the food on the table and could judge how difficult your winter would be.

Some have told me that All Hallows’ Eve began as a Christian celebration. If that be true, Halloween has evolved from these origins into something unrecognizable and I have a growing disdain for the “holiday”. Are the current Halloween participants celebrating the fruits of their hard labor? No. Are they like the Italians, who on all saints day and all souls day go to honor those who are no longer with us? Do you find the American children going to the cemeteries to lay flowers on the graves or light candles to honor the memory of those who have passed? No. But you can find them dressed as the ones who cause death to others. They clothe themselves in darkness, becoming witches, vampires (and not the sparkly ones!), and zombies dripping in gore and blood. Or perhaps devils with horns or as the common ghost, a lost spirit, trapped here (how true that is!). I wonder, no, I know, if they ever witnessed first hand the true nature of the living spawns of evil they are so keen to imitate, that they would no longer be so eager to emulate them. 

The day has become dedicated to a celebration of darkness, fears, haunting, pranks, demons, and violence. And aside from that is the addition of an appalling amount of sugar. The country with an obesity epidemic has a holiday dedicated to obtaining as many sweets as possible… oh my. Okay, time to climb down off my soapbox before I get too worked up about the ridiculousness of it all.

Anyway, I am thankful it’s November! I am all about the upcoming holidays. Thankfulness, friends, family, and food! The month afterward is Christmas and then there are scattered birthdays around and after that. It looks to me like it’s just going to get better! Stay tuned for the following thankful posts. No more mini rants, promise. ;)