A tea for thanks-giving: Pumpkin Cream Spice Tea - LE ... From SBS Teas...
"Pumpkin Cream Spice and everything nice! Curl up with a tasty cuppa tea that has the taste and scent of autumn pumpkin. Perfect for a blustery fall afternoon, or snuggle down evening at home. Delicious iced and hot! Add a dash of cream for instant heaven. This is the real deal, back from last year and here only through the holidays! - Limited Edition
Ingredients: Black tea, hibiscus, rosehips, almond, rooibos, vanilla pieces, cinnamon, apple pieces, calendula, elder blossom, triacetin and natural flavors. This blend contains caffeine."
"Thanksgiving, after all, is a word of action."
W.J. Cameron
And so we have all just celebrated Thanksgiving Day, those of us who do, that is, and for me, as with so many others, the holidays bring joy and gladness as well as fear, tension and a number of weeks fraught with anxiety. In this world, today, many people's response is, "What is there to be thankful for?"
Yes, we live in a war torn world with poverty, soldiers dying in wars as well as the peoples of the towns and villages that they fight in who have nothing to do with the hatred. In India, like so many other countries, children are begging in the streets and starving. All over the world people are suffering and many have chosen to grow bitter and sour and not celebrate at all. And although there were a few difficulties and challenges in my own Thanksgiving celebration, and though we have just lost one family member and another is close to dying, and though there is very little money for gift giving, there is love, and amidst what seemed like insurmountable complications there is peace. And it is our task to give thanks so that we might receive it back, and pass around the globe a tender act of gratitude and acceptance, loving-kindness and tolerance. As Cameron said, Thanksgiving is a word of action.
For me, the most amazing acts of giving thanks are sharing from an open heart the simple things that one might offer another. Inviting a friend for tea, or taking a thermos of tea to an elderly neighbor, and bouquet of what might still be found in the late fall garden, perhaps some fresh baked goodies, and taking the time to sit with them and share the thing we have in limitless supply, our time. A cup of tea is a cup of friendship, and I can think of no tea more appropriate at this time of year than this incredible Pumpkin Cream Spice Tea from SBS Teas. (Their link above will take you right to that page for ordering.) I in fact had it on Thanksgiving Day and have been trying to find time to write about it for days. It is truly delectable. It is pumpkin pie in a cup. For me, the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is pumpkin pie time, and as it is my favorite kind of pie, I relish this pumpkin pie time of year, and there could be no more perfect tea to go with it (or even alone) than this one.
Too, I think people don't celebrate a day of Thanks-giving, wherever they are in the world, because they feel lost and alone and feel that they have nothing real to celebrate. No family, no money, perhaps few friends, a job they are not happy in, and if life is viewed in this way it is no wonder that so many people are depressed on the holiday. This is a day for giving thanks, not for celebrating the pilgrim's feast. This is the day to look at your own life and see how very much there really is to be thankful for.
Among the things that I am thankful for are my 11 year old "puppy," Moses, a lab-doby mix from the Humane Society. I have been going through some hard times but he is always right here at my side, laying his velvet soft nose on me and looking up at me with loving eyes. And yes, I live in a house full of birds and my newest addition is a pair of diamond doves. They are very tiny, the male coos softly, they are domestic doves suitable for homes, and soon, along with a tiny beautiful pair of zebra finches who are working their nest and mating, we will have babies in the house at Christmas. I can't imagine a more delightful time. My version of the Biblical story is, "And unto us a bird (or 7!) are born..." The doves will have two tiny perfect eggs and they are wonderful parents whose babies are precious past belief. And I think no house should be without Zebra Finches. They are the merriest, most cheerful little beings in the world.
I am thankful, in fact, that though I live alone, meaning no other human companion, I am never really alone. I am awakened by Moe hopping about and putting his nose on me and saying, "It's time to go OUT!" and as soon as my feet hit the floor Henry the grey parrot starts in with, "Good Morning, Good Morning, Good Morning." He calls every bird in the room by name and tells them good morning as well, and before you know it, every bird on the place is peeping and cheeping and talking and carrying on while I get Moe out to the potty and get all of the birds fresh food and water, as well as my 3 beautiful Beta Fish. My little animal family brings life, liveliness and love to this little cottage and brings me joy untold. I am grateful for them.
I am filled with gratitude for my 3 beautiful children and grandbaby. For the rest of my family and friends. For a dear friend that helped me enormously through a rough patch recently. I am grateful for anyone who offers me a kind smile as I go for my mail or to the grocery store or anywhere else I might go in the world. It is not easy for me to leave my house to go out into the world hence the kindness of strangers if a gift beyond measure. Remember that. A smile, a kind gesture, to a stranger that you pass briefly and will likely never see again, can make a difference in their life that will echo through their days. Perhaps a moment of kindness when they've had very little of it. Even meeting someone eye to eye with a smile as you pass them with your cart in the grocery store, not even stopping to say a word, is a lovely feeling, and makes, of this disjointed, fractured world a kinder place to be. Love breeds love, kindness breeds kindness, and giving thanks, starting with the smallest things, begins to make one more grateful for a great many things in their lives and once the ball is rolling, the smallest things become glorified and fill our lives with more and more uplifting moments.
One need not feel alone at the holidays either. There are soup kitchens to work in, places to volunteer, and if we are not in touch with our family of origin we can create our own family of friends. Don't wait to be invited, invite some friends over yourself, make it a potluck, make your own kind of holiday. Just because it wasn't the traditional holiday your family experienced when you were young doesn't mean it isn't just as wonderful, your own way, today. And if your holidays were not happy when you were young, it's never too late to start new traditions now.
I have so much to be grateful for. My plants and flowers, the books that are everywhere in my studio that serves as my home, the fiber everywhere that I spin into yarn to do my fiber work, friends to talk with on the phone. Make a list. Start as small as possible. A freshly sharpened pencil can bring great satisfaction. Good eggs and toast for breakfast are a great pleasure. Cleaning your house, filling the outdoor feeders for the wildlings, cleaning and putting the fall garden to bed and dreaming in the seed catalogs for the year ahead, those are things that make the heart feel very full. Perhaps a bright pink ball of yarn and new pair of knitting needles, and once again, a velvet soft puppy's nose to kiss when you feel sad.
And for me, sitting right beside me, is another cup of this delectable Pumpkin Cream Spice Tea that makes every day a celebration. This tea is something to be grateful for. Thanksgiving is not just a day, it is a way of life, it is action. Where will you begin?
Maitri