Thanksgiving - A Season to Appreciate

I have written for the past several years during this season what I have entitled my season of thanks. Thanksgiving has long been my favorite time of the year because of the changing of the colors outside, the cold wind that begins to blow and the ever green that highlights the trees that are bear of leaves. I enjoy pumpkins and seeds. I love the idea of thanks and the reflection of things given by others, like time, advice and friendship. The holiday season of Thanksgiving is short lived in the market place, surrounded by Halloween and Christmas, but I refuse to short change a season that allows me a change to honor individuals, show respect for times past, and say thanks to the influence of many in my life.
For those shorting changing Thanksgiving Season, it could be described as a “quick meal before the rush of Christmas and the arrival of the new year.” As a baby boomer I’m young enough and old enough to remember the way things once were compared to the present celebration of the season. Thanksgiving was always big around my family home. It was a time for sitting on the porch, rocking in an old green rocking chair at my grandparents, observing and participating in the killing of a hog that would be covered with salt and then placed in the smokehouse to season as just a few of the old memories I cherish today. I’m young enough to have witnessed the changing of the guard from then to now too. I never remember a Black Friday sale growing up. That was something for the big cities. In our small towns and communities stores were always closed during Thanksgiving as families were together. It was a time for going to the woods to a favorite tree stand looking for the perfect buck to pass. Of course when I was growing up, the great Cumberland Gap Parkway was know simply as 25e back then and the four lane was only from Corbin to Turkey Creek. You will not hear anyone saying thanks to Governor Julian Carroll for that effort, but one section at a time is progress for a region that is slow to change. Pineville had the Golden Bell and Martin’s for shopping, and Barbourville had the best men’s clothing store in southeastern Kentucky, Sowder’s Men’s Store. You could buy the best suit and a hat all right here at home.
Traveling to Corbin met going to the biggest showing center around. Belks, JC Penney’s, who could have asked for more back then? Don’t forget Corbin had the movie theater and a Pizza Hut too. Ok, for those reading who young and believe I just had a misprint I didn’t. I remember very well the day Pizza Hut arrived in Pineville and Barbourville. Of course, Pizza Hut in Middlesboro has been around forever but traveling to Middlesboro over Log Mountain before 25e was like going to Corbin. Just not something you did unless you just had to.
Change is an interesting event in our beloved mountains and thanks is a corner stone of our character as mountain people. Remember those who once walked among us giving and sharing of their time, talents and energies is a trademark of our people too. Today we have stores in all of our towns from Williamsburg to Middlesboro, with malls and strip malls dotting our landscapes and before Halloween was even here, Christmas items and markdowns were hitting the shelves eliminating Thanksgiving almost all together except for a Thanksgiving Meal Deal that allows for the choice of a turkey or a ham.
All I know is that the Season of Thanksgiving is far to important to be delegated to a single moment of our lives that includes a meal and a couple hours of family time. It maybe you will not see your family at all on Thanksgiving Day, but that doesn’t mean the reason for the season is missed in the least

Until then.