Feliz #thanksgiving!! #thankful #turkey #grateful #family #familia
Giving thanks and helping others
By this time next week, we will be feeling like we ate waaay too much, and we will start to think ahead to the upcoming holidays (more food! Gifts! Parties! … How will I have time to do it all?!)
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. First, it is uniquely American (Canadian too!), and yet immigrants of all countries adopt it and customize it — growing up, there was always a side of rice or potato salad for example, and now, my husband (French) usually makes a gratin d’epinards (spinach gratin) to go with the turkey, and we always have wine!
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. First, it is uniquely American (Canadian too!), and yet immigrants of all countries adopt it and customize it — growing up, there was always a side of rice or potato salad for example, and now, my husband (French) usually makes a gratin d’epinards (spinach gratin) to go with the turkey, and we always have wine!
Second, it is about family and food. No worries about gift giving or excessive decorating (I do like Xmas decorating!)… ok maybe it’s about excessive eating. We should be grateful for what we have all the time, but this day, you have to think about it!
Make this Thanksgiving extra special by remembering all the good in your life, the roof over your head, the food on your table, your loved ones, health.
Think about the parents who have lost their children, the families who have lost their possessions and homes, the people who struggle to make ends meet and put food on their table.
We may all come from different places, and have different sides with our turkey, and look differently, but we are all human. The joy, pain or happiness you feel is the same, no matter how you look, or if you say thank you, gracias, shukran, merci, toda, Grazie, xie xie, Spasiba, or mulțumesc.
Think about the parents who have lost their children, the families who have lost their possessions and homes, the people who struggle to make ends meet and put food on their table.
We may all come from different places, and have different sides with our turkey, and look differently, but we are all human. The joy, pain or happiness you feel is the same, no matter how you look, or if you say thank you, gracias, shukran, merci, toda, Grazie, xie xie, Spasiba, or mulțumesc.
This Thanksgiving be especially thankful … In whatever language.
PS. Why not help out a family in need? There are countless opportunities to reach out!Here are a few of ideas:
Scary mommy nation Helps out moms in need. Many moms struggle to our food in their tables or provide for their children.
Adopt a family in Staten Island- prepare care packages for families devastated by superstorm sandy. Check out their Tumblr page: http://www.ittakesafamily.net/
If you can’t afford to give money, Do something free! Donate your time to cleanup efforts, or Donate blood!! (Painless I swear!) If you live in NYC check out NY Blood Center For NJ Blood donations go here: NJ Blood Center
For more ideas, check out The JCC in Manhattan’s FB page dedicated to Sandy Relief efforts! They are constantly updating their page with up-to-date information on different efforts throughout the city!
What I realized when I became a mother…
When I was pregnant, hormones raging, I had a panic attack one day (not sure if you can call it that?) and I started crying hysterically… why? Because as a baby was growing inside me, I was perhaps more aware of life itself… being born, dying… and I started thinking about my parents. And I started thinking about the day when they will no longer be around. As a result, I started crying hysterically, and when my husband said “why are you crying?” I replied, “I don’t want my parents to ever die… I want them to live forever.” (in between sobs… it might have taken me a minute or two to get these sentences out.)
It is amazing how your perspective on so many things change when you become a mother. First, you experience and realize the extraordinary power of your body (you grew a human being inside you! Then… you make milk! HOLY COW –no pun intended!) For months after I gave birth I would look at myself and look at my son and say “that didn’t really happen… he didn’t really come out of ME…”
Second, and the most important thing I realized when I became a mom was the power of life and the reality of finite life… just as I am now giving life to a human being, someone gave life to me, and that there is a circle of life, birth, growth, death; and then it hit me: the awful reality that parents don’t live forever and that my time with them is precious.
