Thanksgiving

I like Thanksgiving better than Christmas.

• It kicks the holidays off rather than ends it.
• It is a distinctly American holiday, and it comes from an old Indian tradition passed on to the new settlers.
  
• It is even more symbolic for our family as we celebrate it together with our American host family: we are the new settlers, and they are the "Indians" that taught us to cook turkey.
• Main colors of Thanksgiving are fall harvest colors - yellow, orange, red. Orange is one of my favorite colors. (Guess what I am considering to be one of the wedding colors?)
  

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A note for my Belorussian and Russian readers

I bet you already knew everything I mentioned about Thanksgiving. But, I am pretty sure you didn't know one more American tradition of modern days. It comes the Friday after Thanksgiving, called Black Friday.

On Black Friday many consumer products stores open really early - 4 or 5 o'clock in the morning, and determined shoppers pour into the stores in hopes to catch that plasma TV set for 80% off. The line to enter the store forms the night before, I guess the first people in line eat their turkey dinner and leave to get in front.
The catch is - there are only 10 or 20 TVs available for that whole crowd. If you are lucky enough to grab one of those you'd need to rush back immediately to the check out line, or you can be stuck there forever. Elbows and bodyweight are used widely during the store maneuvering, and the politeness is not present during Black Friday.

When I first learned about this tradition, I tried to participate: studied the promotions printed in the local newspaper the night before, planned out my stores visits, and headed out as early as I could - 7 am!!! :) ... It was already too late, the only sign of the great deals was the tail of the check out line. :( ...:) Never again!

When I saw Black Friday in action, one thing came to mind: if our older Russian speaking population here is nostalgic about Soviet times, I'd encourage them to participate in Black Friday - never ending lines are completely real, and it should bring back the memories. Besides, there are years of line standing experience they could've put to use - a clear advantage increasing the chances to actually be the lucky owner of that 80% off TV set.
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This Thanksgiving my fiance, my family, my host family, my friends (near and far) made me feel whole. Thank you so much for being ingredients of my happiness. I've recharged. I am now again ready to create, share, inspire, get inspired, learn and teach, care and be cared for.

Happy Thanksgiving!