When I was a small child (a fact that I think about every day now) we lived in a trailer park outside of my very small home town. We would have Thanksgiving dinner out our own home, which would be a very small affair indeed. In at least one year, we had a candle as out centerpiece which was shaped in the style of a turkey, all brown and gold with a red wattle on his neck and his tail fanned out traditionally. I thought it was the best thing ever.

We would also present ourselves at my grandmother’s for Thanksgiving dinner as well, which was held earlier in the day, and was a far more elaborate affair, with huge centerpieces (looking rather like the Harvest Glow centerpiece featured here) in the midst of the table, and plate after plate of food, and my two great-grandmothers attending, and all kinds of hoopla. If she were doing it today, I suspect she would order it from 1-800-Flowers — I should hope! Certainly they would meet her standards and approval.

Which centerpiece did I like best, and which dinner? That’s what I want my daughter to learn, so she can make up her own mind, when it comes time for her to choose a centerpiece someday.

The world rolls over into its new Beltane year., and the leaves tumble down one after the other, endless firefall of red and gold and brown. A new year, to me, and I give thanks for it, for the ripening harvest into the mid-autumn, the fading November, the promised December.

To celebrate, to lay out the Thanksgiving decorations, to hanging up the leaves, to place the cornucopia on the table, corn, pumpkins and corn pouring forth in a river of smoky vegetable wealth. The candles will line the table, some taller, some shorter, in smart ranks, amidst scattered maples leaves. The kitchen light will floor through the curtains across the table tops, glowing through hurricane glasses full of floating cranberries, scattering pools of scarlet light at their feet, little candles drifing among them with sparking little tongues of flame.

Ever plate will have a single red maple leaf laying like a gift from the trees as they fall into slumber,a naplin atop that, tied closed with twine and another leaf, a guest’s name written on it, acknowledgment that we too will fall like leaves, some day. Nature brough close to us, no separation, no shadow betwen us and them, just a the cold wind shaking the trees, us, the house, and the promise of snow to come, some day soon.

To date we have discussed, first making all the presents and second employing mall newsletters to hasten the process of getting in and out.

There is a third way . . . avoiding the Black Friday mess altogether. Well, sure, you will say, looking at me over your coffee. You’ve made that idea pretty plain to date.

No, you can easily get into stores and out of them for the Black Friday sales that doesn’t lead you through the Black Friday crowds. That is: go before.

“Madness!” But it isn’t. black friday can be found on the handy site iblackfriday.com. Not i-necessarily in a bricks and mortar store (heh), but from the ease of your own desk on Thanksgiving morning, for those extra early specials on the internet.

For example you can browse the prices at Lowe’s, including some great prices on Christmas lights. Or if you are in the military, you can look at Black Friday specials at the AAFES page. Very convenient, and with deals on HP notebooks. Then, when Black Friday comes, you can stay home and laugh at the people struggling through the mobs. I would consider it a better use of energy and time. Best of all to get even more of a jump on the process, you can sign up for alerts emailed to you when retailerss post their new ads. The sales come to you!