Turkey bowls. Gravy, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie. A butterball turkey, and for some, ham. Thanksgiving’s a brief holiday stop before Christmas time hits full swing in the United States. Some may argue that Christmas starts as soon as your heart wills it, but almost all can agree that by the midnight after Thanksgiving the happy holiday season has come. So, before we get tangled up in Christmas lights, Christmas tinsel, and everything else Christmas offers, I wanted to take the time to recognize the holiday before the holiday: Thanksgiving.
Every family in the U.S. celebrates that delicious November day differently. Some kick-it-off with football, others stay in and play card games, some spend the day baking, others order take-out, and some celebrate the oncoming leftover meals (i.e. stuffing waffles). Like my mom and I in high school, I know many families will band together with neighbors and friends for the day. And, of course, for college students and many others, Friendsgiving has almost become a necessity.
Truthfully, Thanksgiving celebrations have as great a diversity as the people celebrating. For me, now that I’m married, Thanksgiving includes a Turkey Bowl, perhaps a television (well, a laptop screen) playing the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and an opportunity to challenge my cooking skills by making new, wonderful food (that one day will become less new and more traditional for me).
Most of all, I hope to make Thanksgiving a holiday that reminds my family to remember the meaning behind its given name: Thanks-giving.
Only recently have I begun to realize the powerful changes thankfulness can commence upon one’s life. At age 19, serving as a missionary in Canada, I had another missionary share her special talent with me: gratitude. She told me God blessed her with a grateful attitude. I started to notice how each time something negative occurred, she always had an “at least” connected to something positive. “At least we have. . .” or “at least there’s. . .”
I always identified myself as a grateful person, a person who appreciated things and would say “thank you” and what not, but my gratitude mainly occurred in the back of my mind. Inspired by her example, I decided to test her method out in my life and brought the gratitude to the front.
Something bad would happen and refraining from complaining, I would choose to give thanks for the good. Sometimes on car rides or walking through streets, I thought about nice things in my life and how lucky—how blessed I truly was.
Later on, I found this scripture that helped me even more:
“When thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning, let they heart be full of thanks unto God. . .” -Alma 37:37
I started to wake up and begin my day by thinking about what I felt grateful for. Eventually, when I prayed, all I could do was thank God. Asking for things isn’t bad, and I do so frequently, but at the time I had become so focused on being thankful that I started embodying a grateful attitude in nearly everything I did. And, what happened next?
My life got TONS better. Actually, it probably stayed relatively the same. I just enjoyed everything more because I recognized the good in my life more, and that made my life seem better. Somehow, for me, gratitude also triggered a positive outlook. With more optimism and more recognition for the blessings I had, I naturally felt more joy.
So, don’t overlook Thanksgiving and don’t overlook the good in our lives. Celebrate the holiday before the holiday. Gratitude giving can help us feel more joy and prepare us to spread that joy in the following Christmas season. It might not seem easy to feel grateful if it seems you have little to nothing, but trust me, even for the most deprived soul, there’s something. Do your best to look for it.
So! Go enjoy some pie, and don’t forget to tell others about the gratitude in your heart, especially if you’re grateful for them. These things make all the difference.
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