Early years-- it was never a big deal. It was a good time to hang with family, especially if relatives came but the constant consumption of football put a damper on things. I always fought to watch the parade and start watching Christmas movies. I also fought to play games. Sometimes they would appease one of these notions or make me watch my movie in the other room. I never liked watching movies alone on Thanksgiving. On good memory was of my cousins coming one year (cousins who I had only met once as a very small child) and one of them watching Little Nicky with me. Yes, an awful movie, but the fact that I had a family member who would prefer bad movie over football meant a lot. A
Also, I always hated Thanksgiving food. Turkey and cranberry sauce has never done it for me. My favorite food memory was when my grandma came to also hates this kind of food. We had lasagna.
While in college, it was a great time to catch up with family but a major roadblock in getting your work done. Thanksgiving marked the time huge papers were due or would be. It always was an issue going home to bring work with me or not. There was always so much work to do during this holiday.
Last year, I worked at Starbucks. We were given a list and we had to choose 3 holidays to work. Since I did not choose Thanksgiving, I thought I was in the clear. But then I got scheduled to work 4am on Black Friday. What a sham-- that should've been one of the holidays on the list.
On Tday, I ate a big meal, drank some wine, and then went to bed. It was a good night's sleep.
This year, Thanks giving has new meaning. I have been working almost 60 hour weeks due to having two jobs. Because the coffee shop job I now have is on a college campus, we're closed down for the whole week of Thanksgiving. Also, I have a two day holiday from my full-time job.
I am delighting in the amount of free time I have this week, but in recieving this blessing I want to use it to bless others.
If you would like to be involved in a Thanksgiving week food delivery, please let me know.
As far as other things I want to do this week- more frivolous, but enjoyable things, I have constructed a list:
It may seem like a lot. And I probably won't do all of these, but many of them are passive enough. Everything with a star means I would love to do this with someone else. Let me know!
Watch season 1 of Arrested Development on Hulu*
read two books I just bought
go to funky coffee shops and read or hang out*
pick a book of the Bible to start reading*
learn a cool recipe to cook up for Tday
eat the food in my fridge*
start looking for Christmas gifts*
pray about missional opportunities
watch at least 3 movies I haven't seen*
write one entry on my food blog
write one entry on my personal blog(done)
look further into grad schools
sleep a normal schedule
find new bands to listen to
journal a lot
straighten my hair
catch up on my bills
clean and vacuum my car
consider Christmas decorations*
but then..
list everything I'm grateful for.
(As trite as it sounds to do this time of year, thinking about the things in life you are thankful for is tremendously beneficial for you, your relationship with God and your relationship with people. I am thankful for the opportunity to do all these things on the list which I ordinarily do not have all the free time for.)
and finally
list everything I am hungry for
(I am not talking about food. I am taking about maintaining the wellness of our whole selves. As human beings, we are all hungry for something and never satisfied. Sometimes we do not even realize what we are hungry for. We need to step back from our lives for a moment and look into them with new eyes. I need new eyes to see and new ears to hear. I need a refreshed heart with purpose, passion and vision. I think analyzing what we are not getting our fill of does help. This can be done in several ways. A couple years ago, I took a vision fast. I broke myself away from the computer, away from food besides fruits and water and sought God's will for my life. Looking back, I admire the zeal I had. I don't have this same impassioned pursuit today. God did not give me any clear answers, but he did give me a direction which caused me not to apply for certain ministry roles. I was hungry for vision. And in that case, I actually made myself physically hungry to feed myself.)
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