You Can Get Anything You Want...

It's that time of year again when the leaves have all changed color and there's a crispness in the air. Whether you call it Fall or Autumn doesn't matter to me I like either one.

By now the Halloween decorations are coming down and our attention shifts to the next holiday, Thanksgiving.

Notice I didn't say Christmas, although the retailers would have you believe it's just moments away. I wonder since I'm forty-one now and each year they (retailers) start pushing their goods on us earlier and earlier, by the time I'm ninety will they have backed up so far that they are now on time again?

In other words when I'm 50, trees, wrapping paper and snow globes will go on sale around the Fourth of July. At age 60 they'll be available on Memorial Day. That will be fun watching the Indianapolis 500 while blowing up a six foot inflatable Frosty the Snowman. When I'm 70 for St. Patrick's Day I can have corned beef, cabbage and cranberry sauce. By the time I'm 80 I can start buying decorations and presents for the next year before my credit card statement shows up in the mail from the previous year! Ah, but then comes 90, then they'll put everything on display two weeks before the big day, and at that point someone in marketing will say, "You know, if we started pushing this stuff a little earlier we'd sell a lot more of it."

But as Arlo Guthrie might say, "That's not what I came here to talk to you about."

You see Thanksgiving is a great holiday for many reasons. Just as the name implies, it's a time to look back on the past year(s) and thank God for all he has done in your life. I also love that it signals the beginning of "the eating season" It's so nice to be able to eat like a pig for the better part of a month and fall back on the old standby phrase, "January 1st I'll start watching what I eat." Yeah right.

But, what I really like is that at some point during this month I'm going to hear Alice's Restaurant. "Now it all started two Thanksgivings ago when my friend and I decided to..." If you want to hear the complete rendition by Arlo Guthrie click on the link. I tried to post the video directly, but have a feeling its too big of a file. It's a bit of an investment of time (18 minutes) but well worth it.

My brother Mark memorized it in its entirety and performed it as a humorous interp. speech while in high school. As kind of a by-product to his practicing on us (the family) I learned most of it as well. I always enjoy when, on occasion, he breaks into a bit of it.