Happy Thanksgiving

Writing a serious post about Thanksgiving is difficult. I have been so blessed in my life that there is no way I could ever be thankful enough. If I were to give a speech about my life reminiscent of an awards show acceptance speech I would be giving thanks long after they started playing the music and cut to commercial.

To borrow something I heard in church recently I was blessed by simply being born in this country. So for starters I would have to climb up a few branches on my family tree and thank some people for making the voyage to America. The day they made that decision blessed me and my family forever. Something as simple as my place of birth is truly a blessing.

Sometimes though life gets out of sorts. Instead of simply being thankful for something like that we all want more. We need better toys, a bigger house, or a newer car. We need designer clothes and expensive furniture. I guess that is fine, but sometimes in a world where so many people go without it seems out of balance.

This Thanksgiving I want to take time to remember the simple things. Hopefully the act of thanking God for the things that really matter will help spur me towards a life where I can readjust my mindset. Hopefully I can learn to focus on the important stuff in my life.

I am going to be thankful I have a house rather than wishing it was bigger. I am going to be thankful for this country rather than complaining about its politics. I am going to be thankful for my job rather than complaining about the work. I am going to be thankful for the time I have rather than complaining about the lack thereof. I am going to be thankful that I have more than one place to go for Thanksgiving rather than bemoaning the choices we have to make.

If I came home today to find nothing left but Arica and Braden I would still consider myself lucky. A man with a family like mine is truly blessed no matter what. That is what I have always liked so much about Thanksgiving. It is about food and family rather than gifts and decorations.

It is our one day as Americans to put an emphasis on a family meal time celebration. For one Thursday in November our priorities appear more Italian than American. We get to gather around a table with family and share stories, a few laughs, a 15 pound turkey, and most importantly love. I hope everyone has  a great holiday weekend spending time with the people they truly love.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Football on Thanksgiving

I am participating in a giveaway for the first time ever. I am no Bob Barker so you're not getting....A NEW CAR!!!! It's a fairly modest giveaway, but it involves football. How could I resist the opportunity to get a few free things while talking about football. I am going to talk about it anyway so why not get the free stuff too.

This post is in conjunction with the Clorox Toilet Bowl Contest. Click on over and learn how to win a trip to New Orleans to play in the first ever Clorox Toilet Bowl flag football game.  The celebrity QB will be former Florida Gator QB, NFL bench warmer, and current ESPN analyst Jesse Palmer. For all the ladies out there I believe he was once the bachelor too. Feel free to make any tight end jokes now.

Now that we have done that let's talk a little about Thanksgiving and football. Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday. There is nothing like family and food. My favorite tradition it to eat so much that it makes me miserable. I think that is why someone decided long ago to put football on TV on Thanksgiving Day. While you are laying on the couch with a swollen stomach listening to your older male relatives snore off the tryptophan nothing can lift your spirits like watching the Cowboys. Unfortunately this year the Cowboys can only amplify any feelings of queasiness.

While our family has never played our own flag football game the sport has always been a part of Thanksgiving for me. In 1996 a new football tradition was added to our Thanksgiving repertoire, The Battle for the Golden Boot seen below.

Starting that year Arkansas and LSU began playing the Friday after Thanksgiving for that huge golden trophy. On alternating years I would either spend that Friday off watching the game on TV or in the stands in Little Rock. Recently the game has been moved back to Saturday, but it still always occurs on the week of Thanksgiving. And this year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving Arica and I will join my parents in the stands for what could possibly be a meeting of two top ten teams. I am excited already.

So there you have it. I eat as much turkey and dressing as humanly possible. I watch a little of the Cowboys. I try and do a little deer hunting. Then I cheer on my beloved Razorbacks sometimes even in person. That is my Thanksgiving tradition and it always involves football.

So here is where you get the chance to win a football and a Clorox Toilet wand. I know it sounds glamorous, but that it is just life as usual here at Life of a New Dad. Think of it this way. You will be receiving two Christmas gifts. A football is great for a little boy on your list. And you can give the toilet wand to your wife.

Just kidding. Don't do that. Don't even think of doing that. In fact let's pretend I didn't even say that.

All you have to do is leave me a comment preferably about football. If not about football then just say something funny. Whether it is funny or not will be left up to our judges (me). I don't want any followers just for the giveaway so only a comment is needed. I have gained all my followers without any giveaways and I want to keep it that way. The giveaway will be done next Wednesday November 24th so I don't forget about it over the holidays.

In case I don't see you again Have a Happy Thanksgiving everybody.

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Dad Central Consulting on behalf of Clorox and received a gift code, toilet wand and football to thank me for taking the time to participate.

Let's Eat Turkey in a Big Brown Shoe

Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday. It is a great time spent with family doing one of my favorite things, eating. The day is also complete with football and sometimes deer hunting. It is a very manly holiday. There are limited decorations. It requires no gift shopping. It only requires that you bring an appetite and a loose fitting pair of pants.

Of course the true sentiment behind the holiday is great as well. I have so much to be thankful for, and I never take the proper time to appreciate all my blessings. All of us should take time every day to say thanks even though we so often forget. So as you gather around the table today I hope you are giving thanks for the blessings in your life.

This has been a particularly tough year for me. There have been problems in many different areas of my life. Even with the struggles I am eternally thankful for my blessings today. I am so thankful to have a beautiful healthy son. I am so thankful to have a wife that puts up with my stubborn selfish ways. I am thankful to live in this great country and in the beautiful town of Hot Springs, AR. I am thankful that I have been blessed with abilities that allow me to provide a comfortable life for my family. The list of things I have to be thankful for could go on forever.

I have been given much in life that I don't deserve. I hope that beginning with this day of thanks I can start giving more back. I hope that by this time next year I have given other people reason to give thanks rather than just hogging the blessings for myself.

Thanks to everyone who has continued to support my little blog here. It has been fun this year getting to know you all as well.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I Must Be Thankful for Something

I am finally back for a Fatherhood Friday post. Be sure to go to Dad Blogs and check out all the other great posts for yourself.

I know everyone will be posting what they are thankful for in the coming days so this is by no means an original idea. Still yet I have so much to be thankful for this year that I need to make a list. Often times I get caught up in my problems and forget how good my life really is. Of course I am most thankful for my wife and son. I am thankful that they are healthy and that they love me.

Other than that I am not going to list all the typical things that I am thankful for like job, house, etc. I want to list all the obscure things that I am thankful for this year. I won't add lifetime achievement award winners like toilet paper to the list. Some things just go without saying.

I Am Thankful For:

1. The disposable diaper. I don't care if they are filling up a million landfills a day. I can't imagine life without them.
2. Skype. I don't think I could have lived through this year without it. Do I need to thank Al Gore for inventing the internet thus making Skype possible?
3. On Demand in seat programming on international flights. They have about 40 movies to choose from now. Only a few years ago we were watching the one or two movies provided on the over head screens. The new setup makes 8-10 hour flights almost tolerable.
4. Sausage. Breakfast sausage, Anduille sausage, Italian sausage, sausage biscuit, sausage and peppers, pigs in a blanket, sausage balls, polish sausage, smoked sausage, bratwurst, sausage gumbo. I feel like Bubba and his shrimp.
5. Sunshine. After spending a couple months in Scotland I will never take sunshine for granted again.
6. Individually packaged food. You can get almost anything in a single serving these days. That is great when you have a kid.
7. J.J. Abrams. The new Star Trek movie, Lost, and Fringe. He brings me more gifts than Santa Claus.
8. DVR. It makes watching TV with a small child possible.
9. China. Without them Braden wouldn't have any toys to play with.
10. Chewbacca. He was always ready when the Millennium Falcon needed to make the jump to light speed.