Happy American Thanksgiving everyone! After spending four years as a student and 18 months as a missionary in the United States, I can’t help craving a bite of pumpkin pie today knowing all my friends to the south will be celebrating with their families this weekend.
However, now that I no longer reside down south, it’s the day after American Thanksgiving that is more significant to me — it marks the day I transition mentally into the Christmas holiday spirit. It also means that I allow myself and those around me to listen to Christmas music.
Historically, I try to preserve the magic of Christmas music by limiting it to the holiday season. In fact, I’m quite embarrassed to admit that I once made a roommate cry because she was listening to Christmas music in October. Don’t worry though, I’ve softened in my old age and I’ll make exception for Merritt’s annual Community Christmas Concert, which kicks off the Country Christmas weekend tonight.
Now that the municipal election has wrapped up, we can set aside these important civic issues for a while and celebrate the start of the holiday season by spending time with friends and loved ones.
Merritt’s famous Country Christmas weekend offers the perfect chance to do that.
Every year volunteers work tirelessly to bring these events to our little city – planning the parade and concert and craft fair among other events.
Last year was my first Country Christmas experience and although my fingers were absolutely frozen from trying to photograph the festivities, I was definitely impressed with the event. I could tell that Merrittonians took pride in their city by the quality of each float in the parade and each Christmas song in the concert. I could also tell that Merrittonians loved to celebrate.
Though I can’t believe it’s already that time of year, I’m looking forward to a fun filled weekend. So dress in lots of layers and come out and enjoy the festivities.
In between the events, I’ll be singing along to some Christmas tunes and I might even start my Christmas shopping with a goal to shop completely local this year.
