The Advent of the 2012 Holiday Season

Well, which is a deep watery subject, Thanksgiving has come and gone. Black Friday, which started on Ebony Thursday, has gone by as well. Now we await cyber Monday and the weeks leading up to Christmas. The White House has received its Holiday Tree and people are out spending money like it's doomed to be worthless someday soon.
Thanksgiving was another awesome one at home with my family. Mom, Roy, Nicole, Amber, Jonathan and Chico were all home and I think it was excellent! Everyone works so hard to make the family meal, especially mom. I think she overdid it a bit because she is home in bed really tired. Everyone helped her, but there is still so much to do to prepare for a holiday meal.
One can wonder about how a contemporary Thanksgiving compares to the original with the Native Americans and the Immigrant Americans (pilgrims)? I read somewhere the original Day of Thanks lasted almost 7 days. That's a long party! I personally have experienced a party that lasted three days (alas, that is a topic for another writing sometime down the line!), which was incredible in its own right. A seven day celebration with no booze could become a bit annoying I would imagine.
Thanksgiving; the word needs no definition. A day of giving thanks for all the blessings in our lives. For the Original immigrants who came here, they were thankful for surviving the terrible North Eastern winter. For us today, we are mostly thankful for our loved ones and probably football. Black Friday too! I for one tried to remember all the individuals suffering the aftermath of Super Storm Sandy, not to mention all the other individuals on the planet who are suffering from other catastrophes. Sometimes, it is hard for me to get past all those individuals who are so less fortunate than my family and myself. We as a family are not wealthy, but we do have a number of luxuries that others cannot afford. I am so very grateful for all this. I only wish I was in the position to help those that are less fortunate around me. I often remind my loved ones of this. There are so many people worse off than I am or we are.
I remember living in Southern California and seeing the homeless begging for money at the freeway off ramps, in front of convenience stores, street corners, busy intersections and such. I am glad I am not one of these people; well, not yet, anyway.

Not everyone who begs for donations is needy...
I was off an one of my excursions to do a movie and dinner with my friends one Spring afternoon. I stopped at the Bank of America on Devonshire and Sepulveda Blvd. like usual. For a few weeks there had been this woman there on an old bicycle, a few store bags and rags in her bike basket. She had been there soliciting money and in front of a bank, well, she banked. On this particular afternoon, as I was leaving the ATM, I began to dig though my pocket for whatever change I had to give her. As I approached her, a very well dressed, and easy on the eyes woman blocked me and said in a very matter of fact manner: "don't give that woman any money; I work at Circuit City and she came in and bought a $400 DVD player, CASH!" I paused for a moment and glanced at the woman in the house dress, beat up sandals, ripped socks as she looked away, jumped on her bike and rode away.
All I could think was, WOW!
I suppose the saying; You Can’t Judge a Book by It's Cover pertains to this instance. Here all this time, I've been working for a living; I am such a sucker.
As the Holiday Season gets rolling; I’m sure we are all going to witness wonderful and scandalous events. Let’s not forget what is important during this Christmas Season; FAMILY, FRIENDS and GIFTS! Well, maybe not so much the gifts. Enjoy your friends and family; treasure them and let them know you love and care for them.
Later.