Mike Moutray - St.Louis MO
Member
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!! Hope you had a great day! 
I finally recovered from my gluttony enough to come sit at the 'puter while the rest of the family is fast asleep. I am normally a lurker and don't post often, but while I was at the in-laws for Turkey Day something struck me. I had to write it out somewhere...
I'm 40 now and don't have much contact with my family around the holiday season. Mom and Dad were divorced when I was a grade-schooler, my sister and brother are off doing their own thing somewhere, and all my grandparents are deceased. I spend most of my time with my Wife and Son and my in-laws. They are a great bunch of people and I enjoy spending time in their homes as a family, but recently I have started to think back to my younger days with my family and all the great memories from those times
It seems the holiday season these days is so much different than when I was growing up. I remember going to some distant relative's house on my Dad's side of the family. There would be anywhere from a couple dozen to near 100 people there. All the women were in the kitchen fixing up the feast, the men were in the living room watching football or outside talking cars, hunting, "guy stuff". All the kids would be running wild all over the countryside playing our games until we were called in for supper. The meal was like a banquet fit for a king - Turkey, Ham, Roast, Venison, and dozens of sides. We all sat at tables and TV trays all over the house to eat. The football game was turned off so that the only noise was a din of friendly conversation. Afterwards we stuffed ourself full of pie, cake, cookies, every imaginable treat. When noone could move and all the clean-up work was done, we would gather in the living room in front of the fire while someone played the piano and we all sang hymns and songs of thanks. That was a very special day and I looked forward to that more than Christmas.
Today I had a great time at the inlaws, but it just didn't feel the same. We all ate our supper in shifts because the table is small, the kids were in the living room with X-Box sounds booming all over the house. After dinner all the gals and teens sat around a huge pile of "Black Friday Early Bird Ads" making their plans for where they were going to be at 4 AM in the morning and how many stores they would hit before lunchtime. Then every one took off for home to get to bed early before my father in law had a chance to finish cleaning up the dishes and come in to visit.
The spirit of Thankfulness seems to be disappearing at an alarming rate anymore - and we as a country and as individuals have an endless list of things in life to be thankful for. Too many people are taking too many things for granted. I always felt like I didn't have much in my life to be thankful for but I try to leave some time for myself to concentrate on the blessings in my life and not the negative things. The other night I watched a special on TV about the massacres in Darfur, Sudan and the utter indifference the rest of the world had towards it. I realized just how lucky I am to be an American and how truly blessed my humble life really is.
Well I'm done saying my peace! Have a great holiday season everyone and take a moment to give thanks for all the blessings in your life too.
Mike.
I finally recovered from my gluttony enough to come sit at the 'puter while the rest of the family is fast asleep. I am normally a lurker and don't post often, but while I was at the in-laws for Turkey Day something struck me. I had to write it out somewhere...
I'm 40 now and don't have much contact with my family around the holiday season. Mom and Dad were divorced when I was a grade-schooler, my sister and brother are off doing their own thing somewhere, and all my grandparents are deceased. I spend most of my time with my Wife and Son and my in-laws. They are a great bunch of people and I enjoy spending time in their homes as a family, but recently I have started to think back to my younger days with my family and all the great memories from those times
It seems the holiday season these days is so much different than when I was growing up. I remember going to some distant relative's house on my Dad's side of the family. There would be anywhere from a couple dozen to near 100 people there. All the women were in the kitchen fixing up the feast, the men were in the living room watching football or outside talking cars, hunting, "guy stuff". All the kids would be running wild all over the countryside playing our games until we were called in for supper. The meal was like a banquet fit for a king - Turkey, Ham, Roast, Venison, and dozens of sides. We all sat at tables and TV trays all over the house to eat. The football game was turned off so that the only noise was a din of friendly conversation. Afterwards we stuffed ourself full of pie, cake, cookies, every imaginable treat. When noone could move and all the clean-up work was done, we would gather in the living room in front of the fire while someone played the piano and we all sang hymns and songs of thanks. That was a very special day and I looked forward to that more than Christmas.
Today I had a great time at the inlaws, but it just didn't feel the same. We all ate our supper in shifts because the table is small, the kids were in the living room with X-Box sounds booming all over the house. After dinner all the gals and teens sat around a huge pile of "Black Friday Early Bird Ads" making their plans for where they were going to be at 4 AM in the morning and how many stores they would hit before lunchtime. Then every one took off for home to get to bed early before my father in law had a chance to finish cleaning up the dishes and come in to visit.
The spirit of Thankfulness seems to be disappearing at an alarming rate anymore - and we as a country and as individuals have an endless list of things in life to be thankful for. Too many people are taking too many things for granted. I always felt like I didn't have much in my life to be thankful for but I try to leave some time for myself to concentrate on the blessings in my life and not the negative things. The other night I watched a special on TV about the massacres in Darfur, Sudan and the utter indifference the rest of the world had towards it. I realized just how lucky I am to be an American and how truly blessed my humble life really is.
Well I'm done saying my peace! Have a great holiday season everyone and take a moment to give thanks for all the blessings in your life too.
Mike.
