A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day....11-24 to-27-05...Thanksgiving is GIVING Thanks!

DollyCali | November 24, 2005 | DollyCali

[luvie]

What a great tribute to two beautiful young women who have grown up with grace and style just like their beautiful mother!

[DollyCali]

I did a thread on them last year. Bush Twins - fine Mind Thread

[DollyCali]

see post 160 & 162. How are you?????

[DollyCali]

good morning to all of the Finest. I trust that everyone had a day yesterday that met their expectations & plans.

I phrase it that way as

I talked with one person on phone in the morning who was a pity party of loneliness. (not necessarily old etc) but was alone with parents dead & kids on west coast & had no invites.

I took him with me to the VA for a few hours & he said it was the best Thanksgiving he had ever had. I too was in the alone category. Turned down some outings/invites , to share the day with my invalid mom. I didn't spend the whole day in her room but did check in more often. Now that I am on the mend, I can make the steps to her room with less pain etc. I went out of my way to make her a good meal & she went out of her way to be appreciative & nice. that was a gift to me.

There have been so many holidays of flair & festivities with a lot of people & there have been some with just a couple. Each can be great & special in its own way if you don't measure it against some pie in the sky quality.

Ah, I am getting a bit philosophical & psychological.. but sometimes the days of relative aloneness can be great to be reflective on life.

I guess I have always measured the joy of a holiday or how one's holiday is by what you give...not what you get (and I don't mean gifts/present wise)

will have a few "holiday" posts up shortly... thanks Ms. Tulip for always sharing this with us. Think it is YOUR JOB even though you tried a little delegation a few weeks ago! lol.

[Northern Yankee]

Hey you...

Our door is always open.

You are welcomed anytime. Just so you know!

[DollyCali]

Oh, thanks Jay. I had several invitations. I appreciate it. I had a good day. a very good day.

[Northern Yankee]

Good to hear.

I told my daughter, who's in school at our local college, to keep an eye open for any student who wasn't going to be able to get home for the holidays.

Happily, everyone she knew of was going to make it home.

When I was growing up we were always bringing in someone to share Thanksgiving with.

[DollyCali]

BLACK
FRIDAY



BLACK FRIDAY OFFICIAL LINK

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

(the hot links AREN'T hot)

Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving in the United States, is historically one of the busiest retail shopping days of the year. Many consider it the "official" beginning to the holiday season. The "black" in the name comes from the standard accounting practice of using red ink to denote negative values (losses) and black ink to denote positive values (profits). Black Friday is the day when retailers traditionally get back "in the black" after operating "in the red" for the previous months, often by cutting prices considerably. In addition, most retailers will open very early.

Although Black Friday is typically the busiest shopping day of the year in terms of customer traffic, it is not typically the day with the highest sales volume. That is usually either Christmas Eve or the last Saturday before Christmas.

Because of the large amount of shopping that typically occurs on Black Friday, it has also become Buy Nothing Day. ]

Green Friday

Some larger retailers (e.g. Toys R Us, Target Corporation, and Best Buy) have begun referring to Black Friday as Green Friday because the majority of events that have Black in their title are overwhelmingly negative - most notably the Wall Street Crash of 1929. ]

Cyber Monday

Online retailers are begining to refer to the Monday after Thanksgiving as "Cyber Monday" in response to the overwhelming online shopping boom that typically occurs. This is gaining ground with both online only retailers as well as those who run catalogues or brick-and-mortar stores. Most of these online retailers are running sales similar to those that are seen on Black Friday, though they generally run through the weekend and culminate on the night of Cyber Monday. The increase in online shopping is expected to boost online holiday spending to $18 billion this season, an bump of 25 percent since 2004.

[DollyCali]

When I was hostess over many years, I always invited widows, widowers & singles to join us. Many didn't drive & so my hubby provided taxi service along the way.

[Northern Yankee]

What a wonderful spirit you have.

That's what its all about.

[DollyCali]

Some of Pookie's Toons

[apackof2]

Good post but I avoid Black Friday like it WAS a plague!

[DollyCali]

Me too. If we dont' have it today, no matter how much we "need" it, I wont be near the stores.

[The Mayor]

November 25, 2005

Love Goes Beyond Liking

Read:
1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. —Deuteronomy 6:5

Bible In One Year: 1 Corinthians 13-16

From childhood on, we are urged to show love, whether it's for parents or pets or friends, and especially for Jesus. But what is love?

We think of love as an emotion, a tender feeling, a positive reaction. So when Scripture commands us to love God and our neighbor, we may be confused about the meaning of love (Matthew 22:37-40).

Feelings simply cannot be commanded. A mother can order her child to love spinach, but she can't compel him to react positively when faced with a helping of that green vegetable.

So love must be more than an emotion. An old translation of our Lord's command may help us to understand love as an action that we choose: "Thou shalt love . . . ." It's choosing to be patient, kind, selfless, and humble (1 Corinthians 13:4-5). We can love others even though we may not like them, because it's a matter of making a choice.

Yes, we can respond obediently to what our Savior directs us to do. He knows, though, that we are not capable of doing this on our own. That's why He's given us the Holy Spirit to empower us to a life of loving obedience. With His help, we can learn to love those we don't like. Who knows? We may even begin to like them. —Vernon Grounds

O Lord, how often selfishness
Will raise its ugly head,
So help us, Lord, to conquer it
And show Your love instead. —D. De Haan

Loving others requires a heart of obedience to God.

FOR FURTHER STUDY
What Is Real Love?

[Dan Lacey]

Eucharist is derived from a Greek work with means thanks.

[Jack Deth]

Hope you has a wonderful Thanksgiving, Dolly!

The Great Shopping Exodus has begun
For those of you who think storming a beach head is fun
You are a better man than I am, Gunga Din!

I've never been big on maddening crowds
Or echoed voices, screeching and loud
Topped off by syrupy Muzak dripping from on high

Better to make a list and check it twice
Before hitting the Net, a surprising, swelling vice
To bring smiles to the faces of friends and kin

Call me a Grinch or Xenophobic
And I'll reply both calm and stoic
That for me, it's a strategy that's Win-Win.

Jack Deth~ 11/25/05.

[Lady Jag]

After seeing the news at noon
Black Friday won't see me soon.
A woman fell
In the crowd pell mell,
And her size made EMTs swoon.

[Jack Deth]

Very nice, Lady Jag!

I'd missed the story behind your poem, but it doesn't surpise me.

Hope that the woman wasn't hurt too badly.

And that the EMTs remembered to lift with their legs. Not their backs.

Jack.

[Lady Jag]

The doors of the store opened and the big crowd pushed a few people down right in the doorway. She was huge and she would not have been hurt had she not remained on the floor to put her wig back on while people were walking on her. It took at least four big men to pick her up and she didn't seem to mind. It's people like these who convince me to stay home today.

[Victoria Delsoul]

Glad you had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day, Amy.

I'm going shopping in a little while, but I hope I'll see you this evening.