"An optimist is a person who starts a new diet on Thanksgiving Day." - Irv Kupcinet, American Newsman

Through the woods and over the hills... to Thanksgiving Day we go. Amen for that. It is the-Wednesday-before here on this 27th day of November, 2013. I read about a McDonalds' in Sydney, Australia that had too many teens loitering around their restaurant, especially in their parking areas. They tried numerous ways to alleviate the problem but to no avail. They finally came up with one that has helped. They began blasting Opera music very loudly over the loudspeakers and the kids seem to prefer moving on down the road to listening to the proverbial fat lady singing. That reminds me of a cartoon back in the day when boomboxes were the rage with dudes going around with them on their shoulders blasting away with their loud music. This cartoon had a fellow wearing a three piece suit with a huge boombox on his shoulder. His was loudly broadcasting the stock market report and it showed all the dudes holding their ears and running for cover. Different strokes and all of that, I suppose.

Folks have been camping out for some of the Black Friday sales since the beginning of this week. I don't know each of their stories but my oh my that seems to be a depressing way to celebrate Thanksgiving. The mega mega big box store is offering a 32" flat screen TV for $98 as an incentive to get folks into their stores. That is down from last year's price of $148 and many see it as a forecast of a potentially weak buying season. Many experts believe people's concerns about what they will end up paying for healthcare has impacted their holiday spending plans. That almost sounds like a no brainer to me. My wish is that we all could work hard to put all these things out of our mind for a while as we prepare for a day set aside to express thankfulness to God for His provisions.

The local weather prognosticators have got us a 28 degree low on the board for Thanksgiving morning. Based on their track record, we will just have to wait and see. Years ago I bought the wife one of those artificial flickering fireplaces. It's one that has a light bulb, a spinning device, and a noise maker to do the crackling sound. Seems like a waste for that big old fireplace but it does tend to make a person feel more warm. I would hate for someone to know that I might have actually backed up to a fireplace being heated by a 40 watt bulb. Might have. It does, however, add to our celebration even if that doesn't include any real heat. We are hoping to have between 15 and 20 to show up for our family get together. I made sure we have plenty of Community on hand and there's also hot chocolate too. The wife has been busy for days getting ready. There's a feeling in the air. I recognize it. I've felt it before. It's a good one. It's a blessing type of feeling. And, I thank God for it working that way. I do send out a sincere prayer that your Thanksgiving Day will be a good one and that God will add His blessings to it. Amen.    ....More later.