Ed. — Archived from the Sunday, Nov. 17, print edition.
GRETNA, NEBRASKA — We often have a bit of a battle within our household when the holiday season approaches.
My 15-year-old daughter loves Christmas. Were it up to her, our decorated tree would stay up year-round with holiday music constantly playing in the background.
She loves shopping, wrapping and the giving and receiving of presents.
And, to be clear, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.
My wife and I love Christmas, too, but just not quite enough to look for an FM station on the car radio that plays holiday tunes the instant October gives way to November.
My daughter, of course, has that covered anyway.
My wife and I would rather wait until the day after Thanksgiving to give us something to do other than fight shoppers on Black Friday.
More importantly, we want to give the last Thursday of November its own time in the sun.
It only seems appropriate to take a pause on Turkey Day and remember all we are thankful for.
We tend to put the brakes on our daughter a little bit so that we have the time and space to put up a few Thanksgiving decorations to remind us of the reason for this season of gratitude.
We have a tradition where each person sharing our Thanksgiving meal brings to the table their own list of things to be thankful for. Everyone has to share at least five things, and there is no upper limit for what you can discuss.
It would be hard to go on indefinitely with a roasted turkey staring us in the face, but we really should give as much thanks as we can. That sort of thing is always worth encouraging in ourselves and the folks we know and love.
If you think about it, there is so very much that keeps us grateful.
In that spirit, here’s a rough draft of my Thanksgiving list for 2024:
• I am very thankful that we successfully uprooted our lives and replanted ourselves in Nebraska among the amber waves of grain.
It was far from easy to leave Virginia Beach earlier this year, but our perseverance paved the way to our new home.
We are very thankful for both our old friends on the East Coast and our new friends in the Midwest.
• You can never have enough strong friendships and, with Zoom and social media, our friends are never more than a couple of computer clicks away. While I’m at it, let’s all be thankful for the digital technology that allows us to remain close despite the miles between us.
• Thank you for all the teachers and educators of our youth. As I am teaching now — and as a father — the importance of these professionals should never be undervalued.
• I’m thankful for the democracy of this amazing country that we live in. Yes, there have been a few bumps in the road, and we don’t always see eye-to-eye. But those differences are what makes us a great nation.
We should all continue to strive to be both a giver and a receiver. That’s how the Pilgrims and Native Americans did it on that first Thanksgiving.
• And I remain very grateful for you – the readers of this column and this newspaper. Through the past two plus years of writing this column, I have heard from many of you with your thoughts about what I have expressed through the written word.
I’ve always appreciated the feedback and wish all of you a wonderfully special holiday season – whatever holidays you celebrate.
May these final weeks of 2024 be both a time of thankfulness and celebration for all of us.
The author, a business coach and consultant, was a longtime resident of Virginia Beach. He and his wife, Kim, and daughter, Kara, now live in Nebraska. Reach him via email at mckco85@aol.com.
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