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You are here: Home / Archives for holiday traditions

Finding Thanksgiving Gratitude

November 16, 2016 by Scott "Q" Marcus Leave a Comment

According to a Harris Poll conducted a few years back about our top ten holidays, Christmas takes the prize among most Americans.

happy-thanksgiving

Runner up went to Thanksgiving (my favorite), followed by All Hallow’s Eve (known more traditionally as “Halloween”) closing out the top three.

I won’t leave you hanging. Independence day was fourth, Easter was next and then three non-religious holidays lined up for sixth, seventh, and eighth: New Year’s, Memorial Day, and Labor Day. “My Birthday” came in at ninth. (I didn’t know that was a holiday, but what the heck, another year alive is worth celebrating.) Tied for tenth were Valentine’s Day and Hanukah, which bears the distinction of being the only non-Christian religious holiday to make the list. (You can take a live version of the poll here.)

And, as long as we’re on the subject of Thanksgiving, as I wrote about several years ago, the most common Thanksgiving holiday traditions (per About.com) are:

  • Giving Thanks
  • Thanksgiving Day Parade
  • Football
  • Breaking the wishbone
  • Turkey and Trimmings

A few interesting factoids about our earlier Thanksgivings include that the reason a turkey has come to be the ceremonial meal is actually a fluke of the evolution of our language. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Gratitude, Newspaper Column Tagged With: attitude, gratitude, holiday traditions, holidays, quality of life, thankfulness, thanksgiving, thanksgiving holiday

The Very Best Holiday Treats

December 10, 2014 by Scott "Q" Marcus Leave a Comment

In a previous lifetime, when I was in radio, there was an expression:

“You can tell how successful a disc-jockey is by the size of the trailer attached to his car.”

car-and-trailer-cartoon

This was a reference to how often on-air personalities had to pack up and move, usually seeking larger markets or better opportunities.

Such is the saga as to how Humboldt County became my home.

Much like Harry Chapin’s song, “W-O-L-D,” I bounced around the western U.S., ending up as morning personality and music director at a classic rock station in Southern California, where I also published an industry newsletter. A newly hired consultant for a pair of radio stations among the redwoods followed my periodical and brought me up here. Initially, my strategy was to remain “a couple of years” and take family and trailer to San Francisco. If 31 years constitutes “a couple of years,” I might still be on track. Elsewise, it looks like I’m here for the duration.

After leaving radio with a background in promotion, I earned my take as a marketing consultant (which I still do at times). Some of my clients were political campaigns.

Following so far? (There will be a test.)

Anyhoo, a dozen years ago, I was one cog in the wheel of a team that helped manage the successful campaign of a local official, who was since been re-elected twice, and is now retiring. We don’t see each other very much these days. It’s not that there’s any animosity, quite the contrary; he’s always very warm when we bump into each other. It’s just, you know how life is, right? He’s doing his thing and I do mine. However, recently his “team” personally reached out to me, extending a special invitation to his retirement soiree, basically saying, “You were there at the beginning. It would be great if you showed up.” [Read more…]

Filed Under: Baby Boomers, Diet, family, Gratitude, Happiness, Holidays, Newspaper Column, Relationships, Weight Loss Tagged With: better relationships, family and friends, handling temptation, holiday dinner parties, holiday parties, holiday season, holiday traditions

Re-discovering hope

December 1, 2010 by Scott "Q" Marcus Leave a Comment

Oops! I made the misstep of watching the news, not wise if you wish to maintain an upbeat attitude. Rather, it’s an excellent way to become discouraged.

Politicians, with soft spines and moral compasses no longer pointing north, have become wholly owned subsidiaries of Special Interests Inc. and Mega-Business Unlimited. “Establishing justice, insuring domestic tranquility, providing for the common defense, promoting the general welfare, and securing the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity,” has been crushed under the weight of partisan bickering and a landscape awash in uncountable dollars.

There is plenty of blame to share; as they say, “we get the government we deserve.” But since money has long tentacles, we seem — in my humble opinion — to be getting the government the upper crust deserves.

I am not a “class warrior.” I do not dislike nor inherently distrust the wealthy; truth be told, I would like to be so labeled. I also do not believe that money is the “root of all evil,” rather it simply allows you be more of who you already were. As illustration, if you’re a charitable, involved, dedicated person with an empty wallet and fate or hard work decrees you great prosperity, you become a charitable, involved, dedicated person with a lot of money; able to do much more. Unfortunately, if you were a jerk with but a few dollars who happens to receive a fortune; you become a jerk with a lot of coin, increasing your jerkness. That said, I cannot deny that — lately — it appears many well-off folks have an “I-got-mine,-the-heck-with-you” way of thinking.

It is distressing to think that the concept of helping “the least of us” has become quaint and passé.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Beliefs, Holidays, Newspaper Column, Power of Attitude, Traditions Tagged With: bill gates, charity, holiday traditions, holidays, money is the root of all evil, special interests, sunday morning news, ted turner, thankfulness, warren buffett

How Thanksgiving Traditions Began

November 22, 2010 by Scott "Q" Marcus

The most common Thanksgiving holiday traditions are:

  • Giving Thanks
  • Thanksgiving Day Parade
  • Football
  • Breaking the wishbone
  • Turkey and Trimming

I am unclear how the genealogy section of About.com determined this; yet intuitively it appears correct. Ever curious (and always looking for content for my column), I wondered how these came to be; so I did some research. I share.

According to historians, the Pilgrims never observed an annual Thanksgiving banquet in autumn. In the year 1621, they did celebrate a feast following their first harvest, but this ceremony was never repeated. (Oddly, most devoutly religious pilgrims of that time did observe a day of thanksgiving, but they did so by fasting.) George Washington was the first president to declare the holiday, in 1789.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, family, Habits, Holidays, Misc, Traditions Tagged With: christmas shopping, franklin d roosevelt, giving thanks, holiday traditions, holidays, national holiday, sarah j hale, thankfulness, thanksgiving, thanksgiving day parade, thanksgiving holiday, thanksgiving proclamation

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