Thought-Provoking Thanksgiving

Well, this Thanksgiving was definitely different from all of our past ones.  First off, this was our first one not with family.  We were looking forward to just relaxing and going over to a friend's house later in the day, but Thanksgiving started off very messy.

Carter woke up very late.  In fact, instead of his normal whining when he comes into his room, he knocked on our door and was so very quiet.  We picked him up and put him in our bed, and he just wanted to snuggle.  So weird.  He's normally tickling us or demanding food.  I told Clint after watching Carter just sit still for 15 minutes straight that I was worried.  I also noticed dried up boogers in his hair and on his shirt.  Our little man must have had a rough night with a runny nose, but I suspected this behavior of his was coming from more than a little cold.

We picked him up and brought him to his room to change his diaper.  Then we saw it--dried up vomit on his bed.  He must have had a REALLY rough night.  As we're cuddling him and making plans to clean up, Carter throws up on me.  Happy Thanksgiving, Mom.

So our little boy was sick, but I then got some more bad news.  My mom was in New York to spend the holiday with my grandparents, and I am so happy she made it when she did because my Pop Pop passed away early Thanksgiving morning.  My mom called, and she was obviously upset.  Thinking about his death, I am so thankful that God gave her a little bit of time after she got off the plane Wednesday night to see him before he passed.

The day progressed with Carter seeming to get better, so we made plans to still go to our friend's house.  To make a long story short, we weren't there long, took home some to-go plates, and Clint had to make a stop at CVS to get medicine and Pedialyte for Carter. 

After a day like that, I question what Thanksgiving really means.  Get ready because this isn't one of those warm and fuzzy revelations.  Here's my unorganized rant:

I've always referred to Thanksgiving as "The Boring Holiday."  That's what it is.  The end.  I think our family is going to start a tradition of participating in some kind of volunteering or family activity because finding out what's on TV when I'm normally working or at school is not an entertaining Thanksgiving to me.  I despise the Black Friday strategic planning with the newspaper ads (I don't think it's fair I have to pay an additional $2.00 on top of my monthly newspaper subscription for the Thanksgiving paper when I could care less about the ads).  It's especially sad that so many more stores are open on Thanksgiving (we'll make an exception for CVS).  I think the "we must have (insert some dish) for Thanksgiving to be Thanksgiving" mind-set is ridiculous when so many people are alone and hungry right around the corner.  Finally, I am thankful on a regular basis for what I have.  Do I take things and people for granted?  I sure do because I'm human and selfish.  But I constantly thank God for the simple and overlooked in my life.  What I really don't like is the feeling that we need a day to remind us to be thankful.  Do our actions on that day even reflect our thankfulness?  What's the purpose?

My Pop Pop's death and Carter's need for us while he's sick causes me to re-establish Thanksgiving into a time of sacrifice.  When we give up our time and/or what is truly precious to us (or so we think), it really forces us to be thankful for what's left.  Wouldn't we be more thankful for a table of saturated fat and carbs if our Thanksgiving day was spent volunteering or doing anonymous good deeds for people?  Why do we feel like we're owed a day to relax when we were never given a promise that life would be easy?

God, I know I sound like a grouch about Thanksgiving, a time that many families do, in fact, bask in gratitude for their little blessings.  I want our family to re-establish it to mean more serving than being served, more giving than getting.  Please allow me to seek out what you deem as truly important.

And now a couple of pictures to show that I'm out of grouch-mode.  The first five pictures are taken from Joyner Park in Wake Forest which has become our new favorite park because it's so odd and creepy.  The last one was taken last night in the midst of Carter's stomach bug fun.