I never was a big fan of All Saints Day (Holloween), I'm one of those folks that shuts the porch lights off and draw the shades at dusk on that night, I guess it's because in my mind way too much attention is given to Ghosts, Gobins, and Haints, and not enough reverence shown to the Saints.
Anyhow, the winter holiday season is upon us and the big three for me and mine during the winter holidays is Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years, normally folks get pretty excited about this festive time of the year, but this year it seems that that joy and excitement has been dulled by the events of the last couple of years, which got me thinking about all that we've gone through as a nation and as a people starting with the social and political unrest and division, the rioting, looting, and burning of whole cities, the needless loss of lives and money, then there was the Pandemic, the country wide shut downs of businesses and schools, who would have ever thought that toilet paper of all things would become such a rare and valuable commodity, then there's the shortages of groceries for a long while.
Now it's the economy that's suffering, inflation is cutting into earnings big time, people have to choose between food, medications, or gas for their cars so they can get to work and back every day, and pretty soon the cost of the energy that powers and heats our homes will about double, if we can get enough of it that is.
While we all have our own opinions as to why this is all happening that's a discussion for another day, right now we have enough on our plates to figure out.
So, in my thinking about it I found that as bad as things have gotten for many of us, there's still much for all of us to be thankful for, yes, we've had to tighten our belts and sharpen our pencils, but most folks I know still have family and friends that are close, most are managing to get by with what they have, and for those who aren't there's still allot of help available.
I also got to remembering the stories that my parents and grandparents told of the great depressions of the late '20's and early '30's and about the shortages and rationing of the war years, and I'm reminded of how those times served to bring people together rather than divide them and to strengthen people rather than beat them down, maybe that's what it takes every once in a while to get people to appreciate the things in life that really matter over the material things only sometimes serve to make us more comfortable, lazy, and greedy.
Most of us are not going to be spending allot of money we don't have on gifts we don't need this holiday season, but there's one thing that we can all give that everyone needs that doesn't break the budget and that is the gifts of kindness, love, understanding, patients, sharing, and being close to your family, friends, neighbors, and even strangers that you may pass on the street or at the grocery store.
Me and mine have allot to be grateful for in spite of the troubles of everyday living, I hope you all will find yours as well, it's a great time of year for it.
Happy Holiday wishes to all of you from all of us.
