A Time for Reflection, Relaxation, and Rejuvenation

As the year comes to a close and people gather with family and friends to celebrate the holidays, it's a perfect time to reflect on the past year.  It's also a time to develop those January resolutions (I don't call them New Years resolutions because they never last past January...)  But most importantly it is a time to relax and prepare for the 2nd half of the school year!  Those students will return ready to learn (or jump off the walls from their sugar high that hasn't gone away).  Think of a way to harness that energy and put their holiday hangover to good use during the month of January! (remember it's only two weeks till a 3-day weekend, 6 weeks until another week's vacation!)

“Reflect upon your present blessings -- of which every man has many -- not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.” 
                   - Charles Dickens

“Sometimes, you have to look back in order to understand the things that lie ahead.” 
                   - Yvonne Woon

“I am a writer of books in retrospect. I talk in order to understand; I teach in order to learn” 
                  - Robert Frost

-MB

Happy Thanksgiving

There is a heart-warming side to every holiday.  The love we're supposed to show on Valentine's Day, the cultural heritage and pride expressed on St. Patrick's Day, the religious side of Christmas and Easter, the National pride of Independence Day.  But all of these holidays have a rampant commercial agenda that wants you to buy buy buy and they lose a lot of their heart-warming effect.

Thanksgiving on the other hand, is really a day of coming together and giving thanks... and eating way to much food, watching football, organizing plans for Christmas and starting to plan for black Friday shopping sprees...

Ok, so the picture isn't quite so rosy, but at least it's a day of anticipation where you still spend it enjoying the company of family members.  Until I found out that some stores will be open at 6AM (yes, you heard correctly...) on Thanksgiving Day!  This is insane!

Christmas has been a lost-cause holiday due to commercialism, but it's now so entirely lost that it is attacking Thanksgiving! Following the 1950s Domino Effect theory of communism I can only assume that Halloween will soon be the beginning of the Christmas shopping season and those Dirty Red... Santas? will be out in force.

Alright, it's not really so bad as that, people still have the choice to spend quality time with their families on Thanksgiving.  But if you or your relatives are planning on dining and dashing this Thanksgiving I would ask that you first consider the following:

• Are the people you're buying gifts for more interested in your presents than your presence? If so, they don't deserve the gifts.
• If you only buy gifts for people at the cheapest price possible, are you really doing it for the right reasons?
• Live in the now, not the future, it's the greatest gift of all and that's why it's called the PRESENT.

Wishing everyone safe travels and a truly Happy Thanksgiving!

-MB

Thanksgiving 2012           Thanksgiving 2011