THANKS for GIVING

Have you ever noticed how sorting your husband's socks is like playing Mah Jong Solitaire?

Seriously, you need strong light to do it because you spend ages peering at 46 socks in a few subtle colour differences (all in the blue/grey/black/brown range) and many times the only way to discern differences is by identifying and matching tiny, arcane patterns.

Why are bloke's socks so dull?

Yeah, yeah, I know all about the whole 'dressed for success' thing, but female business people have cool clothes - rich colours, different fabrics. The poor guys only outlet for creativity is the tie - and many males still choose painfully boring ties. Evil Genius Husband is an exception - he loves neato ties - but would he wear purple socks with wee green Hulks all over?

They'd definitely be easier to sort.

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Hopefully the heater bloke will be out this morning. We've had the classic hat trick of bad luck, in our case: roof leaking, central heat broken, and, of course, one of the cars dead.

Sooooo, we have the front of the house shored up with a beam, have been living sans heat except for the woodstove (which is in the dining room and at the opposite end of the house from the bedrooms), and had to make not one, but TWO 2 hour-one-way trips to retrieve first EGH, then his car from the side of the road.

(That last one was fun - remind me to tell you sometime - sitting on the tarmac inches from Friday rush hour traffic trying to get the bloody strap tightened on the tow-dolly.)

Anyway, it's like seeing the dentist for an infected tooth: you want to see him but you don't want to see him.

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Thanksgiving's next week. Warm thoughts to those of you who celebrate it. Please be bloody careful driving.

I'm not looking forward to it. As those of you know who've stuck with this blog, it's a painful anniversary (of my dad's accident) coupled with a meal with folks I can't abide.

Yeah, yeah, I know I whinge about it every year, but I swear! I wish I could separate the two families like skimming the fat off of chicken broth. I adore the one group and look forward to seeing them - it's the loud, drunken, trashy, tasteless crowd that set my teeth on edge.

Bleh, it turns my stomach to think if having to grit my teeth and be polite to them.

Should I wear this funny thanksgiving t-shirt? No? Too much?

I have one for Christmas, Yule, and Chanukkah as well.

So, anyway, I was thinking about the 'giving' part of Thanksgiving. Yeah, i know it means giving thanks, and this is why I don't celebrate the holiday. I've nothing against it, but I just feel like one should gather with family all year long and be thankful for what one has every single day.

I got to thinking that Thanksgiving is a perfect time to think about GIVING. The consumer holiday is coming up, and the season is filled with greed, consumerism, and self indulgence.

Seriously. How many folks do you know who eagerly await this season all year? A time to over-eat, to sloth in front of the telly, to overspend, and, of course, to get gifts!

Even the people who are out buying gifts for others often indulge themselves with items ("Oh, these are on sale! I'll get one for aunt Mabel and one for myself").

Not that relaxing or indulging oneself is bad. OVERindulging is the problem. That's why so many folks can't pay their bills in January. And don't even get me started on parents who whinge about their kid's 'Christmas' (when did Christmas become a regular noun?) about how it won't be grand enough.

Bah!

I think that around Thanksgiving we all should, being mindful of the huge amount of stuff (food, presents, etc), coming into our lives soon, try to give back something.

- Donate tinned goods to a food bank (and not that 5 year old tin of asparagus that's been at the back of the cupboard).

- Cull all your ratty and old towels and blankets and give them to a pet rescue place or animal shelter.

- Haul all your old tree decorations and lights that you never use to the thrift store. There are lots of folks who like trees but can't go to the Lowe's, whip out a credit card, and buy all now matching stuff in this year's theme. (Like certain persons from an aformentioned family.)

- Take any women's clothes or baby clothes to your local battered women's shelter. Those girls are having a crap year.

So, I double dog dare ya: go though one closet, or one cupboard, or one chest of drawers - pick any one - and separate out the things you don't need. Do the Flylady thing and set a timer for 15 minutes. Even *I* can spare 15 minutes one day.

Spend 15 teensy minutes going through that cupboard, closet, or dresser, and ruthlessly take out the things you don't love. Does it not fit? Does it only 'work' with one thing? Have you not worn it in a year? Toss it! Is it a box of some exotic ingredient for a meal you never made? Four tins of creamed corn you bought on accident? Donate it! Picture frames you'll never use? That lamp that can be fixed but you know you'll never do it? Out of here!

C'mon. Take up the challenge. Give a bit back this season and I don't mean a few coins in the Salvation Army bucket or a gift-for-a-disadvantaged-child tree thingy at the mall. Do it in addition to those things.

My timer's set.