Giving thanks at Thanksgiving

The Thanksgiving Season is here already and after this wonderful time of the year comes the most blessed time of the year which of course is Christmas.

During this time of the year my thoughts usually turn to things that were so important to me that occurred many years ago. Things like an outhouse rather than a bathroom that was located a good ways away from our house.

When we grew up in Northeast Georgia our weekly baths were taken in a tub with water drawn from a well on the back porch. Our meals were cooked on a wood burning stove in the kitchen and one of my jobs was to keep the firewood cut and stacked on the back porch near the kitchen.

Milking our cows each morning was not really a fun thing but that was another job of mine. My father taught me that you get most of the milk from the cow but you also left some for their calves.

Another job of mine was to catch the chickens that ran loose in the yard and ring their necks when our mother told me it was time for some fried chicken. If you didn’t want to wring the pullet’s neck you could chop off its head.

Don’t know about now but back when I was growing up school buses only picked up students who lived in the country. If you lived in the city you had to walk to school and back home afterwards. From our house it was about a mile to school and we walked unless the weather was bad and if so our mother would take us.

We did have electricity back then and were very thankful for it because not everyone enjoyed that blessing. Homes nor cars had air conditioning back then so the windows were up at home and down in the car when we drove.

May I tell you that I am very thankful for all the modern conveniences that we have today. Things like inside plumbing, electric stoves, air conditioning and heat from sources rather than fireplaces. Televisions are nice also because back in the early days of my life our Saturday night entertainment was listening to the Grand Ole Opera on the radio as well as other well known programs.

You ladies around my age know that doing laundry back then was rather tough. There were no washing machines and dryers so dirty clothes had to be washed in a tub and scrubbed on a scrub board before they were hung outside to dry on a clothes line.

There are other things that I could share with you about growing up in the old days but coming up that way makes me realize how thankful and blessed we all are with the many new inventions that have made our lives much more enjoyable.

During this Thanksgiving Season we should examine our values. We Americans take some things for granted such as freedom that many other people of the world do not have. Freedom does not come free because men and women have given their lives over the years to protect our freedom.

The founders of our great nation had a strong belief in God and were thankful for His blessings. Our nation and all of our leaders from the President on down need to act now to return our nation back to doing God’s will and not man’s will.

Yes, we have so many things to be thankful for this Thanksgiving Season. I am thankful for living in a small community filled with many good people who are always ready to help needy people during both Thanksgiving and Christmas time.

Finally, I am thankful for the privilege of having written this column for 45 years or so and I am thankful that many of you read it every week. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Season!