Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate

I’m writing this on 28^th November. Here in Australia it’s just another Friday, but in North America, it’s Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is the day when Americans gather to celebrate food, family, and the strange cultural belief that one gigantic roast bird can solve all problems. It started as a harvest festival, morphed into a national holiday, and now functions as a yearly test of oven capacity, emotional stamina, and whether the smoke alarm still works. People travel ridiculous distances to sit at one table, eat until they can’t move, and politely pretend that Aunt Martha’s sweet potato marshmallow concoction is edible.

If that’s you and yours, I hope you had a wonderful feast with family and friends. Even if Aunty Martha and weird Uncle Phil were there.

That’s the sort of thing we do at Christmas time.  Unlike Christmas, when everything in our world stops, during Thanksgiving there’s football on television and parades with giant inflatable cartoon characters. Just like Christmas here, there’s a general agreement that calories don’t count for twenty-four hours and we wish we didn’t have to invite weird Uncle Phil.

Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving in October, which feels wonderfully sensible. Harvest actually happens then and the weather’s less likely to kill you. Canadian Thanksgiving is quieter, calmer, and generally free of deep-fried turkey disasters. Think polite family dinners, pumpkin pie, and everyone going home before things get weird.

And then, on the 28^th November (this year) is the actual Black Friday. In our calendar that’s equivalent to the Boxing Day sales which happens the day after Christmas day. Now, of course, retailers being what they are, we have Black Friday sales for days and weeks, as well as the Boxing Day sale. But at least we don’t have to bust down the doors at the shop anymore.

But there’s something to be said for thinking about what you’re grateful for.

I had my seventy-fifth birthday several days ago. I’m grateful for that. Quite a few of my close relatives – my father, my brothers, two sisters, a niece – never got that far, several not even close. I’m pretty healthy for my age. We own a nice house,  in a nice town which is getting larger than we’d like. We get to go for walks on the beach, go whale watching in the season, go on interstate and overseas holidays. And of late I’ve recovered my joy in writing books.

The world is a difficult place at the moment. But it’s worth reflecting on what you’ve got to be grateful for. Everybody will have their own list.

And because I write books, I’ll finish with an ad. I’m having my own sale. Two of my books can be snapped up for just US$0.99. If you’ve bought an ereader in the Black Friday sales, pick them up while you can.

Just US$0.99 from your favourite bookstore. Click on the covers for more information.