Garage Door Thanksgiving!

    
    Often during the holiday season we like to report on festive decorations that have adorned garage doors across the nation, celebrating our wonderful autumn and winter traditions. This year there have been many gorgeously decorated thanksgiving homes, with big turkey paintings, beautiful leaves arranged in particular ways, still-lifes of pumpkins and other harvest produce. Garage doors have been painted with foliage colors, in the likeness of a gobble gobble turkey, and some have been sporting gorgeous fall landscapes. Autumn decorations are a little less light-heavy than winter ones, and depend on beautiful afternoon sunlight and crisp fall air. This makes them as fleeting and ephemeral as the season itself- fitting.
    And thanksgiving decorations in particular are a celebration of bounty and plenty- extravagance, on thanksgiving, is okay. It is the day we cook and eat for hours and give thanks for it, the day that we express our gratitude towards friends, family, and nature for providing us with such wonderful lives.
    However, not everybody gets to celebrate such a heartwarming last November Thursday. It’s very sad to stop and think about, but unfortunately, most major cities in the United States have lots of impoverished families that don’t get to enjoy the warmth of a good stuffed turkey, or enjoy some nice, tart apple cider, or bite into a hot pecan pie and watch the filling ooze out. These families have to make do with the same usual cheap food, or can’t afford heating, or may go hungry altogether. No place in the country is immune from this problem.
    So I urge you, in the spirit of giving, thanks, and holiday community, to give either time or money to a thanksgiving charity. Perhaps one that provides thanksgiving dinner to impoverished families, or helps deal with homelessness. This is the season of gratitude and giving, and if you want to make the world around you a little bit brighter, you should not only decorate your home and your garage door, but you should give, as well.