Are we Thankful?

On January 31st, 1957, the Canadian Parliament proclaimed...


"A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed ... to be observed on the 2nd Monday in October.

And Thanksgiving as we know it today, began...

It is celebrated in churches, and also celebrated in a secular manner.  The actual Thanksgiving holiday is Monday, but Canadians eat their Thanksgiving meal on any day of the three-day weekend, Sunday and Monday being the most common.  Usually celebrated with a large family meal, it is also often a time for weekend getaways( the last of the season).  It's the weekend to clean up the yard, close up the cottage, and generally get ready for the long cold winter ahead. It's the last weekend to wash windows - My mother was a stickler for washing her windows on Thanksgiving weekend... I did not inherit that gene!

Are we giving thanks for the close of the harvest season?  Are we giving thanks for our bountiful harvest?  Are we giving thanks for anything at all?

I doubt it.

Most are having an extra long weekend, packing it full of things to do, and maybe even complaining about all the extra work in cooking a larger than normal meal, without even giving thought to the "Thankful" part.  Maybe some of us are even wondering if we have all that much to be Thankful for".

It takes some thought... actually lots and lots of thought, to getting around to being "Thankful".  I think nowadays our society tends to focus more on the negative than the positive, so Thankful is difficult.

But we can do it, and we should do it a lot more than we do... and not only on the weekend that is set aside for it.

Being Thankful is something we all need to work on every day of our lives.  Good things come from being Thankful; happiness comes from being Thankful; contentment comes from being Thankful.

So Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Canadians.  Be Thankful of your bountiful harvest, whatever it should be - be happy - be content - and enjoy your weekend...