If you are one of my avid followers, I apologize for going so long without a blog piece. Lots of optimism in that statement, I mean I hope you are avid readers. Sometimes I just get distracted while other times I have too many ideas and none of them actually make it to my blog. As an example, I had really intended to do a piece about diners. You know the old sit at the counter and enjoy that breakfast kind. The ones with old time menus on a blackboard that remind you a good breakfast used to cost 25 cents a lifetime ago. I even visited one of my favorite ones, Willalbys, and took pictures I fully intended to post. But then I got so involved in all the things that made it a favorite haunt and never wrote the blog. But I sure did enjoy the breakfast and the conversations.

Life’s been like that. Trying to keep caught up on all the activities and people who have crept into my life lately, has stolen my free time. Not that any of it has been bad, just busy. People too often come into and out of our life and it is important to take the time to guarantee that the time between is well spent. I want to believe I’ve been doing just that.

So here has been my dilemma. As Thanksgiving and Christmas approach, I have been searching for a way to get away from all of the political turmoil swirling around our Country, all the divisiveness it has created, and not least of all, the general pessimism and cynicism that has come about because of it. To somehow escape with out getting caught up in the argument has been my quest. I do have strong opinions but I recognize both the right and the unavoidable fact that others will have equally strong opinions that butt up against mine. And so I choose to express my opinions at the voting booth where I appreciate my right to privacy and my chance to exert my will. Please don’t lose faith in me when I don’t use my blog to exert my will.

I have instead decided to immerse my self in the season. I will sit with my family this Thursday and express to them how thankful I am for their presence in my life. I will remind them that I am the collective of not only my parents’ and grandparents’ perspectives but included in my personal DNA is the imprint they have had on my character. The great thing about life is that it gives us daily opportunities to take from the interactions we have with the people around us, the ability to grow and even change . I will remind them that they have helped me grow and when I needed, to change.

I have also decided that I will make every effort to make this Christmas special for the people around me. I want Christmas to be more than that one day of opening gifts, some we really wanted and others we only needed, you know, the socks and underwear. I want Christmas to be the joy of the season, the traditions and the sharing of a spirit that lifts us to be better than we have been, to be more than just present, maybe even a force. I want it to be the twelve days of Christmas, the twelve days before and for that matter the twelve days that follow. Maybe then it will become a spirit and a drive that can last the whole year through. I want people who matter to me to know that they matter to me. I want all the noise to go away and to have it replaced with a peaceful quiet like that of falling snow. I want the Season to wash over us and leave us refreshed.

Maybe, just maybe, with a little luck and a lot of effort, I can quiet the noise of the evening news and replace it with Thanksgiving thanks and Christmas joy. Even if for just a month. This Thanksgiving and Christmas know that I care about you deeply and wish you the very best this Season has to offer.