Oh, and Also: I’m Doing a Thanksgiving Advent Calendar Thingie This Month
Posted on November 1, 2011 Posted by John Scalzi 20 Comments
By which I mean that every day of November through Thanksgiving (in the US), I’ll be writing a bit on something I’m thankful for. The reason? Mostly because I think the idea of Thanksgiving — of taking time to really think about things you are thankful for — is a fine one, and because I think it’s becoming increasingly the late in the year holiday we sort of gloss over between Halloween and Christmas, and I’d like to focus on it a little more than usual this year. And anyway I have a lot of things to be thankful for, and I suspect, in spite of 2011 generally being a spectacularly crappy year, so do you. It’s worth giving some time to.
So, that’s the plan: one thing I’m thankful for, every day, through Thanksgiving. Note I am traveling some during the month so some of these will be shorter (and later) than others. But they’ll be there. Note also that not everything will be deep and important. I’m thankful for a number of trivial things as well as big things. I suspect most people are.
Just to be pedantic, liturgically speaking, Advent doesn’t start until Nov. 27.
But as always, your personal journey is an interesting one to follow. Is Athena joining you, like you did with her Lent?
1-Nov. I am thankfull for my daugher Brigit. She taught me to be human.
This is of course not related specifically to Advent. Just the idea of counting the days toward a holiday.
I like Thanksgiving, and I like the idea of stretching it out. My wife and I hosted family Thanksgiving dinner the last two years, and it was a lot of fun. We decided to do it the second year in a row because we thought it would be difficult to host it for the next few years since we were planning to start a family. Those plans worked out, and this year, we are thankful to have our healthy three-month-old baby boy to take to his first Thanksgiving dinner.
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year. You get to hang out with family and friends, eat lots of good food and watch football. And I am quite annoyed that Christmas now starts right after Halloween (and in some stores, even before Halloween). My kids know this, so this morning they chose to sing Christmas carols in the car on the way to school. They do so enjoy tormenting dad.
Sometimes what appears to be trivial turns out to have been vital, if not to you, to someone else.
I like this idea. It’s something missing from Thanksgiving.
I am thankful that I discovered an awesome writer whose books are so dependably great to read.
Really? Who?
What a fabulous idea! Thanks so much. I’ll be using it this month I think. Maybe at the dinner table.
I stole your post series idea. Because it is an awesome one. I did link and give credit, though, so maybe I borrowed it?
So being Nov 1 what are you thankful for today? Well not specifically thankful for on just this day, but in thankful for all the time?
I’m thankful for anonymous friends on a blog who can actally have meaningful discussions with only minor intrusions by large mallets. This is a surprisingly rare thing these days.
I am thankful for this blog and also the Other great writers that you have introduced me to here, and the wonderful commenters who don’t attack just to amuse themselves. [thanks for the Mallet of Correction, some of us need to see that someone is against casual or habitual meanness.]
Thanks also for showing what flesh and blood writers Do and how it connects with us, the hopeful unpublished writers.
Of course we all have something to be thankful for. Since, if you’re born in America, you are the 1% (of the world).
http://news.yahoo.com/attention-protestors-youre-probably-part-1-153806044.html
I like this idea a lot. Good one!
I’ve always liked the idea of naming the things you are grateful for, and I have to believe that even a drop of optimism and thankfulness has ripple effects in the river of humanity that can only be good. I think I will start my own list on my calendar and list something each day between now and Thanksgiving. It is a great idea. Might also be a nice twitter meme or hashtag or some such to start for the month!
On the flip side, I’m sorry you’re having a spectacularly crappy year. You don’t know me, and I don’t know you aside from what I read here, and I couldn’t tell that you weren’t having a good year…which may perhaps be the point. So for what it’s worth, you have my sympathy.
So which day will you be giving thanks for Coke Zero and related carbonated goodness? Just in case, you know, other devotees would like to share a bubbly toast that day.
Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday and I am stealing this idea. Thanks.
What they all said ^^^, seconded. Nice idea.