National Stress Free Holiday Month

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By Diane Forrest

With Thanksgiving under our belts....literally, we are now staring right into the Christmas season.  Thanksgiving is a rather calm holiday, gathering at the table eating a huge meal and watching football, how hard is that?  No worries about decorating the house or buying presents...just relaxing with family and friends, and hearing the same old stories over and over.  This Thanksgiving was different though.  The retailers, in their infinite wisdom, decided to begin the shopping season on Thanksgiving Day - not only throwing chaos in a calm day, but ripping employees away from their family time.

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This year I did something that I have never done before.  I went to Wal-Mart during their "Black Friday" sale that started on Thursday night.  There was a good sale on vacuum cleaners, and I needed one, so I said…why not?  Big Mistake!  I didn’t know that my small town had that many people, and I think most of them were there!  The store was so crowded; you could not even walk down the aisle.  All the sale items were disguised, and located all over the store, so it was also more of a treasure hunt too.  There were people yelling and pushing and grabbing and fighting for bargains, activities that would make even the calmest person stressed. Luckily, a vacuum was not one of the coveted items…so I had little difficulty obtaining one and trying to work my way out of the store.

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My next mistake came when my mother encouraged me to go to the midnight opening at the mall.  Now I know why they call them "Door Busters"  there was such a crowd gathered at the door, that when they finally unlocked the door, I feared the doors were gonna break or at least fall off the hinges.  I had imagined that all the folks I had just seen at Wal-Mart had made their way to the mall, so once again, I found myself trapped in a sea of people and unable to move through the store.

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Thus the holiday stress had begun.  I did get a little shopping out of the way, but now I was faced with decorating the house, getting out Christmas Cards and baking delicious treats for family and friends.  Making lists and checking them twice, making sure I had remembered everything and everyone.

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The holidays can be a very stressful time, but it is also Stress Free Holiday Month, and below are some tips that will help you make it through the season with your sanity intact.  They include:

• Make a list
• Get plenty of rest
• Make a budget
• Ask for help, you don’t have to do it all by yourself
• Take a break, go for a walk, visit a friend, and watch a movie

Just remember its ok if you don't get it all done...chances are nobody will even notice if you forget to send that fruitcake! 

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Have a stress free month, and Happy Holidays!

Remember Our Troops

Encouraging others to remember our deployed troops is one of the most wide-reaching ways to support the active military during the holidays.

By reminding neighbors that our men and women overseas may need a boost of holiday cheer, you could touch hundreds of service members' lives this season. Talk to people, post on Facebook, send out Tweets or include a reminder in your holiday cards.

Although the holidays can be a difficult time for deployed service members and their families, there are countless ways you can show your gratitude and appreciation this season. Whether it’s a personalized message or a visit to a veteran, you can give back to those who give so much to our country.

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11/24 Happy Thanksgiving!!!

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By Diane Forrest,

The Pilgrims set ground at Plymouth Rock on December 11, 1620. Their first winter was devastating. At the beginning of the following fall, they had lost 46 of the original 102 who sailed on the Mayflower. But the harvest of 1621 was a bountiful one. And the remaining colonists decided to celebrate with a feast - including 91 natives who had helped the Pilgrims survive their first year. It is believed that the Pilgrims would not have made it through the year without the help of the natives. The feast was more of a traditional English harvest festival than a true "thanksgiving" observance. It lasted three days.

In 1789, President George Washington wrote a Thanksgiving Proclamation at the request from the members of Congress. Here is the beginning of that Proclamation:

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to "recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness."

Thanksgiving is one of the best holidays.   No presents to buy, no halls to "Deck", just spending time with your family and friends and eating wonderful food!  It is a time to think about all you have to be thankful for.  No matter what you have, or what problems you have, there is always something to give thanks for.  Last thanksgiving was particularly hard for me.  I had just lost my husband two weeks before, my sewage system had collapsed, and nothing was right.  I am the family blessing sayer, so I had to give thanks for something.  It wasn't hard.  All I had to do was look around the room at my family around, the table full of food, and the roof over our head to be thankful for what I had.

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This Thanksgiving, forget about your problems for the day, and go around the table and say what you are thankful for.  Once you start thinking about it, you will be amazed how much you are blessed with.  Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!

Did you know that: shortly after the Thanksgiving Proclamation was written, it was lost for 130 years? The original document was written in long hand by William Jackson, secretary to the President, and was then signed by George Washington. It was probably misplaced or mixed in with some private papers when the US capitol moved from New York to Washington, D.C. The original manuscript was not placed in the National Archives until 1921 when Dr. J. C. Fitzpatrick, assistant chief of the manuscripts division of the Library of Congress found the proclamation at an auction sale being held at an art gallery in New York. Dr. Fitzpatrick purchased the document for $300.00 for the Library of Congress, in which it now resides. It was the first official presidential proclamation issued in the United States.

From our home…

…to your home…

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