Holiday Eve..

Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. Thanksgiving dinner is held on this day, usually as a gathering of family members and friends. Traditionally, it is a time to give thanks for the harvest and express gratitude in general.

We here at T4E Headquarters (Me, myself, and I) want to wish you safe travels, and a pleasant holiday weekend.

When I’m worried and I can’t sleep
I count my blessings instead of sheep
And I fall asleep
Counting my blessings

When my bankroll is getting small
I think of when I had none at all
And I fall asleep
Counting my blessings…
~ Irving Berlin

A Holiday Tradition

I cannot remember when I stopped watching the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, but it was decades ago now. My “hip and cool” jaded cynicism rebelled against the crass commercialization. (Does every single freaking thing we look at have to have some kind of advertisement??? Hey Folks! Our Black Friday Sale Is Starting Early!)
But maybe I’m mellowing in my old age. Today I actually looked up the Macy’s parade.

“In the 1920s many of Macy’s department store employees were first-generation immigrants. Proud of their new American heritage, they wanted to celebrate the United States holiday of Thanksgiving with the type of festival their parents had loved in Europe.

In 1924, the inaugural parade (originally known as the Macy’s Christmas Parade) was staged by the store. Employees and professional entertainers marched from 145th Street in Harlem to Macy’s flagship store on 34th Street dressed in vibrant costumes.There were floats, professional bands and live animals borrowed from the Central Park Zoo. At the end of that first parade, as has been the case with every parade since, Santa Claus was welcomed into Herald Square. At this first parade, however, the Jolly Old Elf was enthroned on the Macy’s balcony at the 34th Street store entrance, where he was then “crowned” “King of the Kiddies.”With an audience of over a quarter of a million people,the parade was such a success that Macy’s declared it would become an annual event.”

Yes. Society has changed since 1924. I’m not even sure that motion pictures had sound back then.. As I said, maybe I’m mellowing. I am going to tune in to the parade and give it another look-see. And I’m not going to look at it with an attitude of hip cynicism, but instead remember how and why it came to be – and for each float that goes by I am going to count a blessing in my life.

When I was a kid (back when T-rex was king) my favorite was Snoopy.. I wonder if he’s still around..

Today’s quote: “Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.” ~ Melody Beattie

Copyright 2007-2013 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.