The Pause

Happy Thanksgiving!

I love this truly American holiday!

As a family tradition, we try hard to guard Thanksgiving. We try not to let Christmas drown out the importance of this special holiday.

So I thoroughly enjoy my self-appointed role of Thanksgiving Police - in that role, it is my duty to be sure that we do not begin Christmas celebrations until after the last Thursday in November.

We don't really break out the Christmas music until that time - although both kids have been practicing for an upcoming recital which means we are regaled almost daily with "The Little Drummer Boy", "The Twelve Days of Christmas", and "Jingle Bell Rock!".

We have amassed a fair collection of truly great classic Christmas Movies (meaning most are in Black & White). Though this collection is aging and most of the movies are on Video-cassette, we love to drag them out; however this is restricted to at least the week of Thanksgiving. I prefer that we wait until Thanksgiving to even break them out, but this year I noticed that (like in some previous years) some pair of smaller hands had located the Christmas stash and had already gone through them.

We also do not decorate before Thanksgiving. This week I visited a department in my organization that had, for some time now, already decorated their entire area with lighted wreaths and frosted paint on the glass surfaces. That's just too early for me, I think you greatly diminish the value of the decorations by leaving them up too long.

We sometimes wait until the almost-blasphemous date of December 10th to decorate.

Anyway, all this holding off on Christmas is about giving Thanksgiving it's proper due.

Our Thanksgiving Day Celebration today served as most of them do - as a time to pause.

At some point we pause and think about the things for which we are thankful.

Sometimes that pause may come in the cold, clean air of Thanksgiving morning - in the solitude before the rest of the family is awake.

Sometimes that pause will come as the family is seated at the table -or as is the case with my family- poised to leap into the chow line . . . but it is at that moment that we stop the whole business and someone returns thanks.

For some it will come in a very deliberate way as families set aside a specific time for a brief devotion during the day.

The point is that before we enter the frenzy that is the Christmas season for most of us ... we should all pause, regroup, relax, think, and be thankful.

Thanksgiving is a nationally declared day, set aside for just that purpose.

When treated properly, the day can result in something of a cleansing. An Ebenezer Scrooge-like renewal can take place, priorities can shift and return to their proper place, and a new strength can be discovered - all resulting from a return to gratefulness.

It truly is the pause that refreshes.