Happy Early Thanksgiving!

I know that many of us are preparing for the Thanksgiving on Thursday. We have shopped and are ready to prepare a delicious Thanksgiving dinner. However, Thanksgiving this year will be different. The gatherings will be smaller. The food portion will be smaller. The desert table will be smaller. The aroma of food and the laughter of family and friends will not occur like times in the past. We will be taking our parents plates. We will not be able to eat together in large gatherings. Our normal gatherings look very different. However, we can maximize this moment and create new traditions.  

We could eat together albeit via zoom. We can ensure our parents are taken care of, even if we cannot physically be with them in the same house. We can check on them and let them feel the love, even if it is from a distance. We can laugh and reminisce about the good times. We can pray that next year will be different. We can laugh a little louder and appreciate others more. We can ensure that our kids know that they are loved. We can love on and hold our spouses a little longer. We can ensure that even when life happens, we are there for each other.  

We should be even more grateful for each other this year. At someone’s table this year will be an empty seat. That seat is vacant because that individual is no longer there.  I pray for those families who have to deal with loss during this season. It’s so easy to take life for granted and assume that we will always be here with each other. I pray that God would strengthen and comfort them, during this holiday season.  

I encourage you to be thankful and grateful for the family God has blessed you with. I encourage you to check on your parents to ensure they have an amazing dinner in spite of the current status of the world we live in. I encourage you to check on your parents a little more this year, especially if they are elderly and live alone. You may have extended family members and even friends who live alone. Check on them to ensure that have dinner. I pray this season that even if someone lives alone, they will feel the love of family and friends near and far. 

We will get through this, but it’s better to get through this together. I encourage you to use wisdom this holiday season. I pray that you would stay safe and will have a great Thanksgiving. It’s so easy to complain that this season has been hard and our normal traditions have been disrupted. I would encourage you to think outside the box and create new traditions. I would encourage you to be there for someone this Thanksgiving. In a chaotic world, we all need a hand to hold and a shoulder to cry on. Will you be that person in this holiday season? Happy Early Thanksgiving! Until Friday…….Lady T ​