Tomorrow offers the opportunity for a relaxed Thursday.  In the holiday calendar it is celebrated as Thanksgiving.  It is one of those favorite occasions when the day is focused more on traditions, the enjoyment of family and friends, the delicious sharing of delectable food, kicking back and chilling out.  About the only thing that interferes with tranquility is a great play in the fourth quarter and then pandemonium breaks loose.

Relaxed Thursday is ordinarily a day without heavy expectations (heavy may not be the best word).  It is a day to enjoy just because it is.  Centerpiece for the day is  Thanksgiving cuisine.  My mouth waters just thinking about the menu, the aroma, the festiveness of the whole occasion. Even leftovers are desirable, particularly turkey soup. 

When the day ends and the house grows quiet, and the kitchen is put back in order, the evening takes on its own quiet respite.  Many have the next day off as well.  Some invest that time in family excursions, autumn treks, chances to just prolong the experience of the day before.  Others, however, push themselves to get out into the mainstream of Hectic or, as it is better known, Black Friday.

This is when Thanksgiving, and its solitude ends, and the fervor of the Christmas season officially begins.  Its as if everyone is on the 50 yard line and the whistle is blown and the goal posts await the victors, i.e. those whose basket and arms are the most laden.  Standing on line, people grow pesky, whatever was serene about yesterday is now lost in the nerve-racking, gut wrenching pursuit of stuff. Stuff that will be delivered home, hidden away with other stuff so that a month from now all of it can be unwrapped and revealed as the offering to the day of days when Gifts and Stuff reign supreme. 

Sounds a little cynical and Srooge like, I expect.  But when one reduces a good day to a very stressful, throw it all away to save a few bucks pursuit of the latest gadget, the neatest toy, the just gotta have it thing, then one wonders.

One can only hope that prudent judgment will be encouraged by the discipline of spending less this year.  One can only dream that the civility of those in line will be more polite and thoughtful and, can we only wish, respectful of others.  One can only imagine that perhaps more humane treatment of others will prevail over wanting and getting and grabbing. 

So, with the onslaught of Christmas and all its symbolic encouragement of “peace on earth,”  maybe more of us will tap into that message and greet one another with tidings of  joy, love and hope!  Those are the real messages of this season and the real purpose of the days leading up to and following it.