It is Thanksgiving week! This is my most favorite time of year. It is a time to be thankful for the blessings that the year has bestowed on us. It is a time to celebrate the end of the harvest season and make last minute preparations for the upcoming winter. It is the time of year that we spend with those closest to us by attending holiday gatherings and celebrations.
For us, this time of year also starts the holiday movie binge watching-Home Alone, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Christmas Chronicles, A Charlie Brown Christmas, It’s a Wonderful Life, Elf, A Christmas Story, The Grinch, A Christmas Carol, and many, many more. 2020 is a year that the escape from reality which movies can provide seems more necessary than anything else. What are your favorite holiday movies?
2020 has been a year that makes it hard to find things to be thankful for. Aside from politics, a new virus swept through the globe, schools sent kids home for remote learning, businesses were ordered closed, people lost their jobs, and quarantines were ordered. Some families will have to really search for something to be thankful for, but there is always something. In New York State, our power-hungry governor is even making it difficult to be living in the Empire State. In his latest move, struggling restaurants and bars are being ordered to less than half capacity as customers seek to eat indoors and family gatherings are ordered to be under 10 people. Travel to another state requires a 10-day quarantine and a Covid test. Cost of produce is on the rise and stock in paper products is low. The science tells us that schools and restaurants are not the spreaders of the virus, that place like government offices are, but New York’s dictator does not listen to the science. He appears to only listen to his inner need to rule and make residents dependent on government. He can’t control a virus, so he will try to control us.
Despite his best efforts, many New Yorkers are rejecting Cuomo’s regulations. Posts on social media and outright refusal to enforce unreasonable regulations is the new norm in our state. So, I am joining in. I encourage anyone who is thinking of limiting their Thanksgiving feast and guest list to invite whoever you want, no matter what number that puts your guestlist at. If I had more people on my guest list, I would invite them all. If traveling is in your plans, do not even think of canceling. Celebrate with whomever and wherever you plan to. Eat and drink all you want, within reason of course. No tyrant should be able to take any of that from you.
Does it seem ironic that the Puritans fled Britain about 400 years ago because of oppressive regulations and here we are in 2020 dealing with ridiculous regulations? Hmmmmm…
So, from my family to yours, happy Thanksgiving! Please celebrate in your own way, no matter what power-hungry leaders say.