2004-11-21-9:01 a.m.

holy shit he updated!

I am going to [RANT]...

I've been driving around town since the day after Halloween and right now I'm at a loss.

I just want to say to the retail community..

CAN I GET SOME TURKEY IN ME?! CAN I HAVE SOME STUFFING, WATCH A FOOTBALL GAME, RIKI TIKI TAVI, CHARLOTTE'S WEBB? CAN I SLEEP OFF A TRIPTOPHAN HANGOVER, HAVE A COUPLE OF DAYS OFF? CAN I GET A CHANCE TO SAY THANKS?

Can I do all this BEFORE I have to start worrying about freakin' Christmas!?

In my house growing up, the Christmas tree didn't get put up until the day after Thanksgiving at the earliest, it still doesn't.

But I'm here to tell you, as soon as Halloween was over, Christmas stuff was slammed on the shelves. The Thanksgiving decorations are ALREADY maked 50% off...what's that tell you...?

Advice from and unadvisor. Give thanks before you give gifts. Be thankful before you be generous. That's the whole point...that's why Thanksgiving is BEFORE Christmas. We give thanks to the earth and the people around us for blessing us with an overabundance of love, food, warmth and safety. There's still plenty of time to put up Christmas decorations and buy gifts after...there is, trust me.

When you forget to say thank you...you forget to be mindful of the gifts you're given all year, gifts that aren't wrapped in pretty paper and bows. You forget the gift of life you celebrate on Christmas, and you forget that all of these gifts aren't gifts you buy, but gifts that you are blessed with...and if you don't stop to recognize these gifts, who's to teach the children to, and the children after.

Pretty soon if we're not mindful of what we are blessed with, we're falsely conditioned to forget how to say "thank you" for anything. And once we forget how to do that...we've forgotten everything.

Thank you for reading.

[/RANT]
d.