Happy Thanksgiving to everyone out there!
Turkey. Family. Football. And stuffing.
Stuffing, as in the food? Or stuffing your face?
“Up to you”, as they say in Thailand.
Anyway, I thought I’d give you readers a quick update as to what I’m doing for Thanksgiving 2018.
I don’t want to sound pretentious or weird, but I’m actually starting to lose track of the US holidays after living abroad for more than a year.
Thais don’t celebrate many of the US holidays over here, much as how Americans don’t celebrate Thai holidays. And I never really cared for many of the holidays anyway, so it’s a natural fit for me. I don’t exactly long for Thanksgiving. I don’t even like eating turkey.
To me, every day is an opportunity to be thankful.
Frankly, I’m grateful for every day above ground. The odds of even being born are infinitesimal. Then you have to stay alive, which isn’t exactly easy.
There’s no need to waste money on too much food and overeat in order to feel great.
So I won’t be celebrating Thanksgiving today, nor will I be eating turkey.
What will I be doing?
In regard to food, I’ll be downing some delicious Thai food. Probably one of my favorite dishes.
And while Thanksgiving isn’t exactly a thing over here, Thailand has got my back.
No FOMO here. Thailand has, in my opinion, an even better festival to rock out to today.
Actually, make that two festivals!
They’re called…
Loi Krathong and Yi Peng.
They combine to function essentially as one gigantic festival, usually celebrated toward the end of November.
The former involves floating a small vessel down a waterway and making a wish under the full moon. You give thanks and also pay respects. The latter involves releasing a giant lantern into the sky under the same general conditions.
Wikipedia’s got you covered on the details.
It’s incredibly magical, guys. It’s goosebumps city. I’ve been looking forward to it for a while now.
Here’s a video of Oh and I releasing a lantern for Yi Peng last year:
Now, there are some drawbacks to the festivals.
Just like how in America the Thanksgiving celebration wastes food in honor of some pretty terrible things that went down many years ago, these festivals create waste. Nothing’s perfect.
But it is one of the most beautiful celebrations I’ve ever been a part of. Just being alive is a blessing, but there’s something extra special about seeing this in person.
I end up feeling more grateful than I ever did with turkey in my belly. Turkey is cool, I guess. But this is much cooler.
So that’s what I’m up to for Thanksgiving this year!
Regardless of how you celebrate today, or if you even celebrate it at all (Thanksgiving isn’t a global holiday), just make sure to use today as an opportunity to see how much of a gift every day is.
Let’s not rely on the calendar to tell us when to give thanks.
Give it every day. And you’ll get it back.
Happy Thanksgiving! Happy Everyday!
What are you up to today? Celebrating Thanksgiving? Celebrating life?
Thanks for reading.
P.S. If you’re interested in achieving FIRE, check out some awesome resources I personally used on my way to becoming financially free at 33!
Happy Thanksgiving & Loi Krathong! 😀
I love releasing the krathong in the river. It’s so spiritual.
We tried the floating lantern a few times, but I never really enjoyed it much. It seems like such a fire risk to me. Fire is such a big problem on the US west coast these days. We’re trained to be careful with it.
Enjoy!
Joe,
Thanks a lot, man. Hope you guys have a fantastic holiday over your way!! 🙂
Best wishes.
I think if you need a day designated by someone years ago, to give thanks for what you have, then turn around and pig out until you pass out, it kind of seems shallow to me. This is something you should be doing everyday, not on one day a year, with actions, not words. For me, it is just a day to watch football.
Brian,
Definitely agree.
I do miss the football a little bit. That’s about it! 🙂
Cheers.
Happy thanksgiving! I spend my thanksgiving evenings at work… that’s ok though as all those work dollars will be creating dividend dollars someday that will allow me to spend all my days as I want! So believe it or not I am thankful for my job, for now anyway!
Royce,
I totally hear you. I saw my job the same way. Just something to get through so that I could later live the life of my dreams. Totally worth it. 🙂
Best regards.
Hi Jason,
My wife and I recently retired from the rat race and started our slow travel around the world. Our first stop was/is Chiang Mai. We got to experience the lantern festival first hand yesterday. It truly was an experience of a lifetime. We were by the river, it was beautiful and crazy at the same time!! lol.
I also saw your post regarding some of your favourite food here. We’ll definitely check them out!
Thanks for your posts!!
E
E,
It’s definitely an amazing experience. Like you said, it’s crazy. It’s magical, beautiful, and hectic all at the same time.
Enjoy Chiang Mai while you’re here. I know I sure do. 🙂
Cheers.
As a child I was fortunate to have good food and good family. Thanksgiving was/is my favorite Holiday. One of many things I would miss about the US, Many warm memories. The kind of warm memories you are creating now. With FI even your routine days seem pretty darn good.
Fred,
That’s great. It’s really all about creating wonderful memories. That’s, at the core, what FIRE is about. The opportunity/time to create experiences and memories. Sounds good! 🙂
You made a neat observation there. I never was a fan of holidays due to the rationale for having them. But I’m even less a fan now. However, it’s probably easier for me to shun stuff like that because my day-to-day life is so enjoyable. I don’t mean that in a “braggy” way. Rather, I guess I don’t look forward to stuff like Thanksgiving (which obviously includes the time off from work) because my daily life isn’t something to escape from. The main thing I liked about holidays in the US was the time away from the job (which meant more time for family, interests, etc.).
Best regards!
Happy Thanksgiving! Very cool tradition! On the flip side, I would think those flying balls of fire would, well you know, cause fires when the landed. I guess it can’t be too dangerous if it’s been going on for so long! Anyway, very pretty, thanks for sharing the video!
DP,
Yeah, that’s interesting. I haven’t heard anything about fires starting/spreading as a result. These things fly way up in the air and then go out. I’ve always heard the bigger issue is related to the lanterns getting in the way of flight paths. I’ve always been concerned about waste/pollution. But that’s more due to the Krathongs.
Cheers!
Hi Jason,
Treat every day as a gift, is the right way to go as per my perspective. The same also applies for the birthday in which every day is a birthday for one.
WTK
WTK,
Absolutely.
Today is a gift. That’s why they call it the present. 🙂
Cheers!