Attitudes of Gratitude - # 12 - RED

Thanksliving is Thanksgiving!!!

I didn't get this posted here yesterday because I spent the day thinking it was TOTALLY lame to be thankful for "red". I kicked around the notion that I might not REALLY be thankful for "red", per se, but for color in general. I *am* thankful for color in general and am glad I can SEE in color, etc., but as the day wore on, I realized that it is "red" and "blue" and "green" and so forth that stimulate my gratitude and peak my interests, and that realization comes from knowing that colors (not just color in the aggregate) have specific meanings for me.

At least ONE person on my F/L is going to spend part of the day laughing when she reads this one because I am forever saying, "I don't like red". She knows as well as I do that I'm crazy.
I have a closet FULL of red stuff to wear and not just at Christmas . . . I have a red "cape" for heaven's sake . . . red jackets, red sweaters, red t-shirts - - - red red red. It's weird!!!

So as I sat wondering why I am thankful for red, I thought immediately about male Cardinals . . . they are nothing short of spectacular in the yard, at the feeder, in ornament form on our Christmas tree . . . RED! Look at him!! What is NOT to like???

Red is a Christmas color, and I love Christmas. Red is bright and it sets itself apart from the crowd immediately. You look out in my yard during the Great Backyard Bird Count and immediately see the six or seven male Cardinals even before you notice feeders full of other birds . . . a Cardinal in a snowy evergreen or Magnolia tree SCREAMS "Christmas Card" at me. NOTHING makes me smile quicker than seeing a pair of cardinals (they mate for life, did you know that?) together at the feeders late in the afternoon in the waning twilight.



I love sharing my world with "redbirds" . . . that splash of color in a winter world. I have a series of photos in my Flickr photostream that I took last year - - It still gives me chills to see these birds in MY yard - what a sight!!!




Well, enough of that - you get my drift, I'm sure, as far as red birds are concerned. These are some hints of what it is I see outside my window that make me smile, and make me thank God that I *can* see in color and also for, simply stated, red birds.

Roses - - - I love roses, and while yellow roses are my most favorite (they were all OVER my wedding cake and in my bouquet and my bridgesmaids' bouquets and so on . . . ) I always catch my breath a little when I see a beautiful red rose . . . I was fortunate enough THIS year to have some beauties in the back yard . . . I guess, truth be told, I love the "backyard" kind better than the "hot house kind" . . .



One of the treasures in my life . . . something I hold close to my heart . . . is the memory of a little red vase that is shaped like a violin. It was my first adopted mother's vase and it sat on our piano. Before my Daddy died, he grew some of the most beautiful and amazing "backyard roses" you'd ever want to see, and every morning during rose season, Daddy would go outside and pick a rose for the little vase. When my mom (and I just realized I have forgotten what I called her!! I've had to refer to her as "Mary Claire" for 55 years now so I could keep my "mothers" straight and not confuse everybody, including myself completely) got up each morning, she would go in and play the piano while my Daddy finished up breakfast before going to work. I have many things more $$$ valuable . . . silver, china, crystal, the piano itself, ornaments, all sorts of stuff . . . but nothing that I CHERISH more than that little vase. If you came over to my house, it's probably the first thing I'd show you. Wanna see it now? *g*



My mother had beautiful red crystal as part of her table settings and her Noritake China Pattern (Claudette - a pre-war Noritake pattern) had lots of red in it. I have since bought red chargers to use with it to enhance the red . . . we use it fairly often mixed with Terry's mother's "wedding china" which has a bit of blue in it and my Grandmother had cobalt blue goblets, which she gave me several years before she died. After my Grandmother gave up housekeeping, Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners came to my mom's house and more recently to OUR house.



Red is all over the place and none more so than in my spiritual life and my worship. Red in the church is the symbol for Pentecost and our paraments are all red. Interestingly, Red is often the liturgical color of choice for Thanksgiving Sunday. I find that mind-boggling, but that's another post and this one is too long already . . .


Terry in his "Pentecost" tie . . .


Adairsville UMC Christmas red

I guess that's more than enough of that as well. You catch my drift :)

There's the red of Poinsettias this time of year . . . there's the red Ford Fusion in our family . . . there's my red luggage that's accompanied me so many places in the last "however many" years . . . there's red all over the place and it just makes me smile and think about "red". I promise to TRY not to let this deteriorate into a daily "thanks for . . . . . " every color in the rainbow. It might be hard, because my mind has taken to flights of fancy just from writing this.

One last "visual aid" from our "Christmas 2010" preparations: