Christmas time has so many stories you could have a video library just for them and double if you go for both the Christian and the secular side of things. Frosty and Rudolph hanging out with the baby Jesus and all. But Thanksgiving is for stories as well. Just not the kind that become cultural icons. Thanksgiving is about the stories of our lives, about the stories that create and connect us.
Thanksgiving is when we get together, family and friends, and talk about what has happened this year, what happened in past years, what is coming up for the future, and weave it all together into a narrative that is our lives. Because in the end, we are the stories we tell to ourselves as well as the world at large. Thanksgiving is the time for traditions which includes the ‘same ol’ story’ from that relative that doesn’t know any new ones and the story from the toddler that knows the rhythm of speech and that it’s important to talk, but doesn’t know how to string the words together. We need both to remind us of who we are because if we don’t know our past we get lost in this now with no roots to anchor us. Not that the past needs to define us nor does it need to be a shining example of virtue, but it does show us on the map where we have been so we don’t wander lost. And the babies show us what is possible, keeping it firmly in mind that this is just one now and there is more ahead and it can be different, better, or more of the fantastic you already have.
So take a moment to savor the season. Open up the box where you keep the stories of your life and check them out. Are they dusty? Are they worn out? Are they glittery and eye-catching? Are they mid-way through with no ending in sight? What are the stories you will tell during this season of relationship? How can you change them? How will you give thanks for them?