I love Christmas! So I understand the urge to rush preparations, to get in the Christmas spirit, shop for just the right gifts for loved ones and friends, put up the tree, decorate the house, tune in the carols, and tenderly set up that most precious ornament to the season ... the nativity scenes that pay homage to this day: this is the day the Lord has made, this day was born in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord, and we will rejoice and be glad in it. I love Christmas.
But I also love Thanksgiving! The fall with the changing of the seasons is especially beautiful to me, as the hues of gold
and crimson, vibrant orange and bright yellow parade across the landscape. This season sets the world on fire with the last flames of color before the drab, gray days of winter. This last, brilliant flash of crimson glory is something I savor, and I don't want to rush past it.
But even amidst all this glory, there is an air of nostalgic melancholy. The year is drawing to a close, many of the stars of my gardens who have held center stage all summer slowly sink into the still-warm earth, blanketed by falling leaves, to sleep away the frosty winter days.
Thanksgiving for me is a long, leisurely weekend, a four-day holiday, a time to savor the year’s grand finale, to reminisce and be thankful for the year's bounty, gathered and savored, the excess stored away for the short winter days ahead, a brilliant, colorful flash to seal the year and I drink in every golden drop. There is no “Black Friday,” not for me. It is “Golden Friday.” And after all the hustle and bustle of Thanksgiving dinner is past, all the left-overs are doled out to family and friends, all the turkey plates and Thanksgiving dishes are carefully washed and packed away, and all the guests have departed leaving precious memories in their wake, I can relax, and stroll my gardens, warm coffee in hand, camera at the ready to capture this fleeting season of color, and when the darkness slowly steals across the landscape, I can sit by the fire and breath it in.
These few days are too precious to miss, to rush past. The holiday season is harried and exhausting enough, so before the Christmas season rush begins, I fill my cup with a few days of peace, rest, and gratitude and I glory in the splendor of fall's Thanksgiving ~
"To every thing there is a season." ~ Amen