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When I was a little girl, one of our family’s holiday traditions was that my brothers and I each got to open one gift on Christmas Eve.
Every year, we spent most of December carefully examining the presents that appeared beneath the tree. And, by Christmas Eve, the gift we had chosen to open was the most coveted one under the tree!
You’re probably turkeyed-out about now, right?
If you’re not out helping to boost the economy with all the other shoppers on Black Friday, you may just want to snuggle up with some hot chocolate and think about being grateful. So… can I join you? Let’s get real about gratefulness.
But, first, I need to get real about anger… because anger keeps us from gratefulness.
Have you ever heard the phrase, “Thanks for nothing!?” Of course you have. It’s usually said in a less than thankful tone of voice, right? You know what a person is really saying when they thank someone for “nothing.” Well, it’s usually a sarcastic way to acknowledge their dissatisfaction with another’s poor or insulting behavior.
In other words, it’s what someone says when they’re ticked off! It has nothing to do with actual gratefulness; it’s actually the opposite! It’s just a snarky insult and it’s not very nice!
I vividly remember the night before Christmas when I was nine years old.
One of our family traditions was that each child got to open one gift on Christmas Eve.
Each year, my brothers and I spent most of the month deciding which gift that would be. We began our research in early December, and as each gift appeared beneath the tree, we carefully examined it, checking the weight and shape of each box, looking for clues to what was inside. As you can imagine, by Christmas Eve the gift we had chosen to open had become the most coveted one under the tree.
That year my brother, Lawson, and I both chose a gift from Aunt Patti. (Our brother David was a baby and still too young to care.) Aunt Patti was young and hip. She knew what kinds of presents kids liked, and now she joined my parents on the couch to watch the events unfold.
