10 on the 10th: November 2023-10 Favorite Things About Thanksgiving & #SpreadTheKindness Link Up On the Edge #678

November 10, 2023 / 34 Comments

It’s time for Marsha in the Middle‘s 10 on the 10th series. For this monthly series, Marsha usually shares 10 questions about a singular topic and invites us to share our answers in blog post form on the 10th of the month. Her questions are such a wonderful way to share more information about ourselves and to learn interesting new things about others. Anyone is invited to join and answer the questions. It is a great way to start new conversations, make meaningful connections with new people, and have a good hearty chuckle every now and then.

For November, Marsha decided there would not be 10 individual questions but instead she has asked us to share 10 of our favorite things about the Thanksgiving holiday. Thanksgiving has always been my favorite of all the major holidays so I am hoping I can list 10 favorite things pretty easily.

1. The meaning behind the holiday.

The tradition of the Thanksgiving holiday began as a day to give thanks for the blessings of the previous year’s harvest. It is celebrated in various countries around the world on different dates and has both secular and religious traditions rooted deep within this holiday’s history. As a person who tries to remain always in place of gratitude and thanks for all of the blessings in my life, Thanksgiving has been and probably will always be my favorite holiday. Check out some of my past Thanksgiving posts about gratitude.

2. My people.

When gratitude is the focus, the first thing that comes to mind is my people. My husband, my children, my family, and friends. I love to be surrounded by my people!

3. The sound of football.

When I was a kid, my father was a bookie and football was his favorite game. So there was always football on the television in my house during football season. It is my favorite background noise during the fall and especially on Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving just doesn’t feel like Thanksgiving without the sounds of football being played on the television.

4. The aromas of the season.

Oh, I do love all the sweet scents of autumn and Thanksgiving. Pies baking in the oven, soup simmering on the stove top, wood burning in the fireplace, candles filling the room with the rich, delicious aromas of fall.

5. The color palettes.

The colors of fall are my favorite hues and Thanksgiving seems to bring out all the rich earthy tones as the epitome of autumn!

6. The clothing.

Some of my favorite wardrobe pieces are not only autumn apparel, but also Thanksgiving themed. I love the colors and the messages that pop up on graphic tees this time of year.

7. The long weekend.

As much as I appreciate the days when my kids are in school and I have 6 hours to myself to get things done, I really do love long weekends without the morning rush and afternoon school pick ups. In fact, today kicks off the long weekend for Veteran’s Day and I have been looking forward to it all week! A Friday that I don’t have to start dragging my sleeping kids from their cozy beds before the sun comes up is a Friday that I can definitely appreciate.

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8. Playing in the leaves.

I used to love playing in the snow, but now I am just too cold for such shenanigans. But I do still love a good romp in the leaves! I also love the sound the leaves make when they blow across the lawn and when they crunch beneath my feet. But I do not like when little leaf pieces get dragged all through my house!

9. Holiday movies.

I do love all the quirky, silly, predictable rom-coms that tend to focus on the holidays whether they are huge box office hits or Hallmark movies made for television. But I am the only one in my house who watches such flicks. So I intend to indulge myself when the kids are at school!

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10. Putting up the Christmas decorations.

Thanksgiving weekend has been my designated time to put up Christmas decorations for years. For me the Thanksgiving weekend really kicks off the start of the holiday season. And I like my holiday decor for the duration of the holiday season. From Thanksgiving weekend until New Year’s Day. However, once the calendar flips to January 1, I want all the holiday decor gone and out of my sight until next year. I don’t think I have ever left my Christmas decorations up past January 2. Except the tree. Sometimes I leave that up until spring, but without the ornaments. I love the soft lights in the mornings while I am enjoying my coffee in the quiet darkness.

And those are 10 of my favorite things about Thanksgiving and the autumn season. If you enjoyed reading my answers, be sure to check out Marsha’s post and her link party for more fun and interesting responses. And feel free to share your own answers in the comments. I would love to read them!

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I am a midlife woman, wife, and stay-at-home mother of 2 boys and 2 cats. I have a passion for helping other women feel fabulous in the midst of this crazy, beautiful life.

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34 Comments

  • Joyce

    November 10, 2023 at 6:56 am Reply

    Hi…first time visiting here. I hopped over from Marsha’s link party. I am with you on the scents and colors of autumn. They’re my favorite and I have those tones in my home too. I start decorating Thanksgiving weekend and leave mine up until the first weekend in the new year. I want the fresh start, clean palate after that first week. Enjoy your long weekend!

  • Amy Johnson

    November 10, 2023 at 8:22 am Reply

    And I am thankful for such a great post on Thanksgiving as most people tend to skip this holiday and move straight on to Christmas. I agree on everything you’re thankful for except football. I just don’t like sports of any kind. Thanks for the party!

    • shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com

      November 10, 2023 at 8:26 am Reply

      Aww, thanks so much, Amy! I don’t really like football either. Haha. But the sound of it in the background reminds me of my father and gives me all the wonderful feelings of nostalgia. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!

      xoxo
      Shelbee

  • Anne M Bray

    November 10, 2023 at 9:41 am Reply

    Oops! It’s the 10th, isn’t it.
    I think I’ll post mine closer to Thanksgiving.
    I have a gifted garment opportunity and need to have an outfit post as my first post.

    I’ve emerged from Hermit Mode with an explosion of creativity.
    WooHoo!

    • shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com

      November 11, 2023 at 5:02 am Reply

      Hi Anne! Welcome back from Hermitville. Oh my gosh, my creativity has been in explosion mode for months. I am getting the most vivid images of completed rag art flooding my brain. I have a growing list of ideas and I cannot work fast enough to make it all come to life. I just started a rag curtain for my friend Becca that is inspired by the fall foliage in North Carolina where she lives. It is beautiful in my mind’s eye. I can’t wait to see what it looks like when it is completed. Currently, it is a pile of freshly washed thrift shop garments! Haha. Congratulations on the gifted garment opportunity! I think your 10 on the 10th post should just be called 10 in November. Then use that going forward…10 in December, etc. and post it on whatever day you want! It’s your blog, you can do what you want to. Love you, my friend!

      xoxo
      Shelbee

      • Anne M Bray

        November 12, 2023 at 4:18 pm Reply

        Oh, “10 in (Month)” is an awesome idea!
        Love what you’re doing with the scraps.
        I think I’ll be bringing some of my Scrappy Squares East next June — for my 50th HS reunion!
        I’ll be hanging out at my mom’s for a bit, we gotta meet up!

        • shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com

          November 13, 2023 at 6:35 am Reply

          Oh my gosh, Anne, I can’t get enough of my raggery art. I literally dream about future projects! I have so many visions in my head that need to be created with rags. I just hope I can make them as beautiful as my mind’s eye is seeing them! Yes, we definitely need to get together in June! Let me know the dates when you have them so I can block off my calendar! We do go to a festival every year over Father’s Day weekend so I hope it’s not the same time that you are visiting.

          xoxo
          Shelbee

  • Kita Bryant

    November 10, 2023 at 10:24 am Reply

    The aromas of the season are my favorite too. Back in the day we didn’t have candles so it was the smells of the food that I smelled. Now I look for candles that remind me of that.

    • shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com

      November 11, 2023 at 4:57 am Reply

      Thanks so much, Kita. I just mentioned in a previous comment that aromas really have the power to bring me all the feelings of warm nostalgia. For me, the scents are what really make the holiday! But my nose has developed super powers in perimenopause which sometimes makes the bad smells too overwhelming. So I burn lots of candles these days to keep my nose happy!

      xoxo
      Shelbee

  • Di

    November 10, 2023 at 1:29 pm Reply

    Great post, Shelbee! It is nice to give Thanksgiving some love. It seems over the years it has become a less important holiday commercially so has gotten a little squished between Halloween and Christmas. I like all the things about fall except that winter is coming! Enjoy your long weekend and thanks for the link up!

    • shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com

      November 11, 2023 at 4:54 am Reply

      Thanks so much, Di! Thanksgiving really has become squished and nearly forgotten between Halloween and Christmas. It’s my favorite holiday in part because it is not so commercialized. No gifts required! Haha. I hate the pressure of gift giving. I love giving gifts to people but with a purpose and meaning not just because our society has decided that at the end of December we have to start arbitrarily handing out frivolous gifts to all the people we know. I am more of an impromptu gift giver. If I see something that I know someone dear to me would love, I get it and give it. I don’t need a date on a calendar to dictate my gift giving habits. Oof. Rant over! I love Thanksgiving! Wishing you a very blessed one, my friend.

      xoxo
      Shelbee

  • Joanne

    November 10, 2023 at 3:36 pm Reply

    OH I am right there with you in that I pretty much never have Christmas decorations up past the first of the year (often they rarely make it up past the 26th or 27th– once I start cleaning out the oepend gifts from under the tree and organizing the house to fit the new stuff I seem to just keep right on cleaning until EVERY last thing is put away!). That candle scent even sounds amazing! I love all those scents this time of year too and always love that long Thanksgiving weekend.

    • shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com

      November 11, 2023 at 4:50 am Reply

      Oh my goodness, Joanne, I just laughed out loud at your post Christmas cleaning frenzy! I know that feeling…once you start going you can’t stop until it’s done. We put our Christmas lights up already but only because Jeff does that and he is having carpal tunnel surgery next week so I wanted the part done that I can’t do. The kids and I will do all the rest over Thanksgiving. They have been begging me since Halloween to put the Christmas tree up but I would get sick of it long before Christmas if we did that. So we will wait. Wishing you many wonderful blessings this holiday season!

      xoxo
      Shelbee

    • shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com

      November 11, 2023 at 4:43 am Reply

      Thanks so much, Valerie! I really appreciate that. These kids do grow up so fast. My 12 year old needed new sneakers this weekend because his size 10 1/2 sneakers no longer fit. We went yesterday to get new ones and his feet are a size 12! No wonder the 10 1/2s were tight. My goodness. Size 12 feet at 12 years old. What am I going to do next year for his shoes?! And apparently his large feet must contain all the knowledge in the world because he also suddenly knows everything, too! Hahahahaha. Wishing you and your family a very happy Thanksgiving, my friend!

      xoxo
      Shelbee

  • Kym

    November 10, 2023 at 9:47 pm Reply

    My list also included my people – being with them is definitely one of the very best things about Thanksgiving! I like that you mentioned the aromas, and I love those spicy warm fall scented candles and things too.

    • shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com

      November 11, 2023 at 4:38 am Reply

      Thanks so much, Kym! Aromas are one of those things that really kick in the nostalgia for me. However, menopause is causing me to have super smell and that is not so great because I can smell all the good things and all the bad things at once and it is overwhelming and yucky! So I burn more candles than ever now to keep my nose happy!

      xoxo
      Shelbee

    • shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com

      November 13, 2023 at 6:33 am Reply

      I feel like you are missing out, too, Emma! I love Thanksgiving so much. But I think you can celebrate it anyway even if you don’t live in a place that recognizes it as a national holiday. I was doing some research on Thanksgiving and found that England does have a day of thanksgiving also known as a day of humiliation (that sounds very unappealing) started by English King Æthelred the Unready in 1009 as a day for public worship and prayer to signal God’s mercy. I think our modern day Thanksgiving celebrations are way better than public humiliation to gain God’s favor! LOL Anyway, I see no reason why you can’t designate any dinner you want as a meal for giving thanks!

      xoxo
      Shelbee

  • Marsha Banks

    November 12, 2023 at 10:32 pm Reply

    I always feel so silly when I read other people’s 10 on the 10ths! They obviously give them way more thought than I do! I was so busy concentrating on the meal as the thing that I forgot about so many other things. Fall scents are my favorites…how could I forget those!!! Oh, well, there’s always next month!

    Thanks for the link party, my friend!

    https://marshainthemiddle.com/

    • shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com

      November 13, 2023 at 6:03 am Reply

      Oh goodness, Marsha, you should not feel silly at all! I always enjoy reading your responses to your questions. They don’t ever seem like you didn’t give them a lot of thought. I did not focus my answers on Thanksgiving foods because I don’t like traditional Thanksgiving foods! I never did since I was a young girl and I still don’t. In fact, I was just trying to convince my family to have something other than turkey this year since it is just the four of us. But nope! They all want the damn poultry…which I have renamed revoultry! Hahaha. Happy Thanksgiving, my friend!

      xoxo
      Shelbee

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