Monday, November 01, 2010

THANKSGIVING COMES FIRST - Thank You!



Image courtesy Thanksgiving Corner

Have I told you lately that I love you? Well, I do. I ask you to jump on the bandwagon, via my annual appeal for holiday sanity, and not only do a whole bunch of you climb on board, but some of you even volunteer to drive for a while. That is to say, you drive more people to my blog, with your postings, than I usually get in an entire day.

For instance, Adam Gaffin, the most excellent host over at Universal Hub - a compendium of Boston-centric news items and blog postings - did as he does every year, putting a link to my post on his front page and sending a few hundred folks my way. Thanks, Adam!

Another huge source of hits was Hilary, at The Smitten Image. She has a weekly "Post Of The Week", and she gave my cause a nice plug here. Many folks stopped by because of it, and quite a few promised to do posts of their own.

(By the way, that's how this thing will make a difference, if it may at all. My ranting about it is fun, and lets me blow off some steam, but unless YOU post something - and ask your friends to also do so - it's just a fart in the middle of a hurricane. If we can get all sorts of people to post, then it becomes a really big stink that retailers and whatnot might actually notice.)

(No, I didn't have to use that particular phrasing, but since those who have perpetrated Christmas Creep have been crapping on us for years, it's apt.)

Special awards for quick action go to Christina at Lucrative Pain, and Michelle at The Surly Writer. They had their postings - HERE, and HERE, respectively - up on their own blogs within hours of mine. Both lovely ladies, and I thank them from the depths of my soul.

Some folks deserve special mention for being with me in this campaign for a long time. Thimbelle, at Creeping Towards Normal, is one of those folks. Her writing on the subject is one of my favorite essays, ever. She has given the cause a page of it's own on her blog, as a matter of fact, and it is there year-round for folks to access. Please read her wonderful words.

Another long-timer is Buck, at Exile In Portales. He signs on every year (although he feels it's somewhat fruitless - see the friendly exchange between he and Thimbelle in the comments section of my original posting.) He gets to the heart of the matter quickly and succinctly, as befits a military man.

(In e-mail, he expressed some misgivings about not being wordier. I told him then - and I meant it - that less words will please folks who don't care for my sort of bloviating, and that his approach is very valuable.)


Again, Thanksgiving Corner

Jillsy Girl has a page on her blog wherein she directs folks to stuff she likes. I thank her for liking me! Quite a few readers showed up here as a result. She also did a separate posting, expounding upon her own thoughts concerning the matter.

(I especially like how she laid out her words to look like a Christmas tree.)

Uncle Skip (not my uncle, but he is somebody's) had this to say. And he's posted our artwork, with a link, as a sticky at the top of his blog. Much appreciated!

A number of nice folks who don't even have the holiday of Thanksgiving, folks from across the sea, added best wishes in the comments. I appreciated that. One actually posted thoughts on the matter, and here they are. Cheers!

Rob, at samaBlog, wrote about it with an entirely new slant. At least, it's new to me, and I enjoyed it. I think you will, too. Find his very interesting take HERE.

Calamity Shazaam In The Kitchen gives me a nice bit of an ego-boost in her posting. Like my ego needed any more inflating...

Jeni Ertmer, at Down River Drivel, always has the TCF artwork on her sidebar, and that's appreciated. Thanks, Jeni!

(A link to us showed up on The Huffington Post, as well as on Buzz Tracker. Both of those gave me a slight start, and cause for hope.)

My buddy, IT, gave us the link love (and a Buddy Hackett appearance on Johnny Carson, which is always worthwhile.) Likewise, Alex Johnson provided a way for folks to get here. And Kat, at Seeking Sanity, has the artwork - with link - posted on her sidebar. Every bit helps, and I thank them.

My friend Kris, at Noodling On It, has written a nice piece. Please read it HERE.




And, since I wrote the bulk of this before the weekend, here are the good folks who wrote things that I just discovered since returning to work this morning. God Bless Them All!

Pat, at Remembrances Of An Arkansas Stamper, proudly displays the artwork, with a link, on the sidebar.

Robert H. Brague (Rhymes With Plague) has posted about us. Thank you!

A Tale Of Two Buckskins talks about Christmas tree sales around his way.

Jazz, at Haphazard Life, is one of my favorite Canadians.

(I like Canadians in general. They kind of have the same sensibilities that we Americans had in the 50's and 60's. I consider that a very good thing.)

Anyway, she has posted one of my all-time favorite cartoons about Thanksgiving, and she has written about us with pity...

(I can read the love underneath the gentle cynicism, you crazy Canuck.)

The Fifty Factor has not only written a nice piece, but has also posted the artwork on the sidebar, with a link, and some words, and... and... well, I run out of nice things to say about all of you, but this is all nice. Yes, very nice. Thank You!

Messy Mimi, at (where else?) Messy Mimi's Meanderings has gone all Thanksgiving militant! In a nice way, of course, and that's how it should be. Thanks, Mimi!

Mari, at My Little Corner Of The World, has joined the cause. Thank you, Mari, and God bless.

Gran Speaks! And this time, Gran is speaking about Thanksgiving coming first. Thanks, Gran!

Last, but certainly not least by any means, is my good buddy, Lime. She always writes something worth reading, and her thoughts on this matter are no exception. Please go have an indignant chuckle at House Of Lime. There is also a link to another Thanksgiving story, and that's worth a read, too.

And that's that, for now.

I had promised to publish this list of links on Friday the 5th, but I just couldn't wait. I am entirely too full of thanks to wait another four days. Fear not, though, if you were planning a post but haven't done one yet. I'll still be doing a post of links on Friday, too. Just let me know when you post something, please. I want to be sure to send folks your way. Likewise, if I've somehow done the unforgivable here by missing what you've already published, LET ME KNOW ABOUT MY OMISSION. Write to me at suldog@aol.com, or leave a comment, or something. I truly want to see all of your stuff, and give credit where credit is due.

Again, thank you. Please keep 'em coming.

Soon, with more of your stuff.


35 comments:

Unknown said...

Wonderful followup Suldog, and good on your devoted followers to jump on the bandwagon with you. Am off to vsit some of these posts.

Anonymous said...

The Huffington Post! WOW ~ You've hit the big time! I looked on the page but couldn't find it.

I saw someone's comment about making an FB page ~ that was an excellent idea ~ have you given it any thought?

Kat said...

WOW! I am so happy to hear it is getting so much support. That is awesome! I will be writing a post too when I find suitable words. ;) This is a good bandwagon to jump on. :)

Michelle H. said...

Thanks for the link love! It is always so much appreciated!

Question: Doing anything at other social avenues? I sort of remember something on Facebook? Or how about Twitter?

Suldog said...

Clarifications - The Huffington Post did mention us, but their links change daily, so we were there one day, gone the next. Insofar as the Facebook idea goes, there is already a Thanksgiving Comes First page on Facebook, which some other wonderful person put up. I guess you can access it by putting in the title? I don't do Facebook a lot.

Buck said...

Wow... just... WOW. You're catching on Big Time. Well done, Jim. Well done.

http://howtobecomeacatladywithoutthecats.blogspot.com said...

I'm with you, Jim... too much, too soon! I refuse to start preparing until at least December 1st.

Joanna Jenkins said...

WOW! You really are getting the word out! This response is awesome. Thanks for sharing the love and mentioning my blog. I'm so with you on this issue!
Happy THANKSGIVING, jj

Hilary said...

It looks like your baby is growing. Good for you. :)

(not necessarily your) Uncle Skip said...

Thanks for the shout out ...and it appears that you get more action than the Facebook page?

Jewels said...

Canada? Yep. Just like America in the 50's, but with better beer.

Christina RN LMT said...

It was my pleasure, Jim! You're doing a good thing.

IT (aka Ivan Toblog) said...

Well, now you've done it, Jim! Traffic is up over on my blog so I'm probably gonna have to actually work at it now... or post more crap?

Daryl said...

Way to go ... keep Thanksgiving first . we need bumper stickers and buttons

Anonymous said...

How's that smoking cessation going?

nick said...

Love Canada - best of both UK and US worlds.
Oh, and well done mate.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting everyone's links early - I always enjoy seeing everyone's TCF essays! :)

Pity poor Buck. He's my new friend. He just doesn't *know* it yet! ;)

Mari said...

Good for you for getting the word out! Sounds like lots of people are jumping on your bandwagon!

lime said...

totally cool that you made the huffington post! and thanks of course to not one but two links to my stuff. you are too kind. here's hoping more take up the cause and someone starts listening.

Feisty Crone said...

Thank you for the mention, Suldog! This is a great follow-up post.

Jeni said...

Ah Jim - I do what I can when I can to support you and your efforts -and especially so in this one. Right now, I'm operating on a bit of a slower than usual speed and trying to recuperate from the massive political ad campaigns this year. Give me a little while and you know I'll gladly to my own post too about why Thanksgiving Comes First! Cheers and peace -tomorrow ends the political junk anyway! (It will be all over but the shouting, ya know and that will continue in one way or another for another two years, etc., etc.!

Sueann said...

Thanks for the prayers Jim!! I am still laid up but this was a good post!
Hugs
SueAnn

Craig said...

Jim, I want to let you know that I am freshly radicalized to the cause. Why, just this very morning, I stopped in for one of my occasional Starbucks'es, and they handed me my coffee in a cheery red-and-green, snowflakes-and-reindeer, Christmas-themed cup. I just stared at it for a couple seconds, and asked the grandmotherly lady who proferred it to me (who has, over the years, become something of a friend of mine) if I could please have it in a regular cup. But she told me that when the corporate-types brought in the Happy Holidays cups last night, they took the regular ones out with 'em. . .

So now I've gotta count the cost as to whether I'm really prepared to forego my Starbucks'es until after Thanksgiving. Or, you know, Advent-purist that I am, until Christmas. . .

AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!

And of course, I will, in the fullness of time, have something up for you to link to. But it makes absolutely NO sense for me to put up my Advent post before, you know, Advent. . .

(not necessarily your) Uncle Skip said...

I saw a guy in a red suit on the World Series telecast last night and thought someone had dressed as Santa Claus. Then I took a closer look and realized it was Crazy Crab.
Oh, yeah... and the Giants win! Giants win!

IT (aka Ivan Toblog) said...

After reading Craig's comment, I'm all for setting up informational picket lines at all of the big time chain retailers who have fronted Thanksgiving with Christmas.

Lori said...

I did go visit all of these links. How awesome that so many are spreading the word! I did get my post up today! Here is the link...

http://mylifeinterupted.blogspot.com/2010/11/thanksgiving-comes-first.html

Thank you! Lori

Suldog said...

Craig - I have empathy for you. I ran into Christmas stuff in an aisle of my favorite supermarket this past weekend. I was stuck with the poser of whether I should just abandon my shopping cart and start over elsewhere - it was the last aisle - or hold my nose and cash out my groceries. I did the latter, somewhat to my shame as the Thanksgiving Comes First guy.

This week, I know what I'm headed for, and I'll either have to go somewhere else or make some sort of a stink about it to salve my conscience.

Suldog said...

IT - I've often thought of having stickers printed up, something simple like, "Thanksgiving Comes First!", and pasting one onto every instance of a retailer bugging me by having Christmas stuff out in October. In the end, I haven't done so because I respect the private property rights of others, no matter how abhorrent I find their practices.

Picket lines, on the other hand, are a marvelous idea. I'm all for it.

Suldog said...

Thanks, Lori! I'm off to read it now!

Lori said...

Hey Jim...not sure if they let you know or not so thought I would give you the links just in case...

My daughter, Brittany wrote this great post...http://brittanyjohnson87.blogspot.com/2010/11/thanksgiving-first.html

One of her readers,Jen, already wrote this great post...http://larsenloves.blogspot.com/2010/11/thanksgiving-comes-first.html

I think this is so awesome!

I Wonder Wye said...

I adore Thanksgiving. I always hold it at our house. We have the biggest table, and I always have a ritual of cooking what I can ahead so I can get up and watch Macy's parade and my DVD of 'Miracle on 34th Street,' and then enjoy a day with the relatives. What other holiday celebrates nothing but eating and visiting?? If only they aired 'Plymouth Adventure," I would be set. As for shopping on 'black Friday' I'd rather have my toe nails ripped out! We are not about goodies at Christmas...

Shrinky said...

Yeaaah, seems this campaign of yours is picking up some steam!

Kat said...

I wrote my post now! :)

Sniffles and Smiles said...

And I, for one, LOVE that you make this post a priority EVERY year!!! And if I were posting...but alas, I am not...but I still have your badge on my sidebar...keep it there year round!!! Because like you, I LOVE Thanksgiving!! Hope you are doing well, my bro! Just stopping by to send you a warm "hello!" Hugs, Janine

Shane Curcuru said...

/ I wrote some haiku /
/ for you, and you, and you; /
/ All thank Jim today. /