Happy Thanksgiving GAW

james terrio

james terrio

Sharpest Knife in the Light Socket
Joined
Apr 15, 2010
Messages
22,618
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, by far. Mostly because it doesn't involve the crass consumerism of buying a bunch of
useless crap to "impress" people that don't need it.

It's just about gathering friends and family together and having a dang good time :)

I am relatively new to the Beckerhead community, but I am thoroughly convinced that y'all "get it"... so here we go... let's have some fun with this idea ;)

Every human culture on our planet has some sort of harvest festival, and we all have a tradition of getting together and
sharing the fruits of our labors.

So, here's my idea for a seasonal GAW...

Tell me a story about what you're grateful for. Tell a tale about passing your traditions on to the young'uns, or how your elders passed them on to you. Tell me why this sort of thing has stayed in your mind for all these years, through good times and difficult challenges.

Tell us why you're thankful, and tell us how you pay it forward.

This contest is open to everyone, but it will end on Thanksgiving Day, November 28th, 2013. Pictures are not required, but they are very much encouraged.

I reserve the right to pick a winner at my own discretion, but I am very open to public opinion.

I will not reveal the "prize" until the winning contributor is chosen... but I promise it will be cool and useful. I assure you, the prize will be something that can cut other things :p

Nothing but the Best,

JT
 
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Every year at Thanksgiving, we do the fairly standard thing of going around the table saying something we are thankful for. I have had the best answer for five years running, at least as far as the men are concerned. The women might disagree on principal, but ultimately they can't argue with the end results.

"Derek, what are you most thankful for?"

"Self-tapping screws."


(This isn't an entry btw.)
 
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This is where I make a scornful scowl and give you all the stink-eye. :grumpy:

Trust me, you don't wanna see that... I'm not exactly pretty to start with.

C'mon, doofusses, this could be fun and edifying and heartwarming and stuff! Plus, there is a free sharp thingamabobber up for grabs.
 
Easter's my favorite, but Thanksgiving's a very close second.
We usually do the around the table thing, too.
10 years ago I used to opportunity to announce that my wife and I were going to have a baby.
Not a dry eye in the house.




What'd I win? ;)
 
when I was younger my dad and uncles would go out deer hunting till around 2 them home too my grand parents for a huge feast!! that's how I came too love all things outdoors guns knives ect!! I think I looked more forward too those hunts and the gathering afterwards more than Christmas as a kid!!
 
What am I most thankful for? First and foremost all the wonderful people on this forum that have kept me company over the years as I've been on the road.
Second, that I both still have a home and that I'll be able to visit it in a couple of weeks.



Have I forgotten anything?
Oh yeah, and a smokin' hot wife!
 
My grandpa served in the Army in WWII. I used to sit with him in the afternoons drinking screwdrivers, him spiking his Ensure with vodka. He told me crazy stories of running liquor during the proabition, commercial fishing in Alaska and numerous other tales of his life. The stories I always remember during a Thanksgiving feast is one of the few things he talked about during his time spent as a POW in the war. Sawdust soup was one of the staple meals of the camp he was held in during the winter. No matter how bad we think we have it, there is no way it was that bad. How we can have so much, waste so much, we really do have the veterans of WWII to thank for the freedom and prosperity we have today. My grandpa passed away on October 15 at 97 years of age, he lived twice the life most of us ever will.

What am I thankful for? Well petty much everything...
 
We generally don't celebrate thanksgiving over here but anyway :D...

I'm just thankful for my life...Now. I'd appreciate not having to go into it over the internet but yeah, over the past 4 or so years stuff happened, things went bad and then from bad to worse but things are starting to finally look better now and for that I am truly thankful.

By the way, if the prize is of the folding, one hand opening type count me out...Most likely it won't make it past Aus customs.
 
I am thankful to have great friends.

In the past 5 years I have lost 2 of my best friends. One passed away at age 28 after a lifelong battle with heart problems, 4 open heart surgeries with a fifth scheduled on the day he died. I got the call in the morning from his sister that he was going into surgery soon. About 4 hours later his sister called back, crying. I swear time stopped for a moment, she didn't even need to say the words, I knew we had lost Matt. I had known Matt since we were 13, we both got together in school because we were crazy about movies, and a great friendship soon began. He was like a son to my parents and a brother to me, and he only really spoke about the severity of his condition to me.

Making the call and telling my Dad that Matt had died was incredibly hard, as it felt unreal to me. When he was in hospital after one of his ops, I had made him a 1/6 scale figure of Dr. House, as House M.D was his favourite TV show. He loved that figure and spent the day bragging about it too his doctors and nurses. His Mother gave it back to me soon after he passed, I protested but she said I should have it.
The funeral was hard. His Mother had asked me to be a pallbearer, and I accepted, but giving my speech about my friend and brother, and later helping to lower the casket nearly broke me, but I stayed strong for his and my family.

The next few months were bad for me. I had nightmares all the time, had very bad mood swings and kind of shut down for a while. My Mum was getting very worried about me, and another friend of mine told me later that she had made a tearful phone call to her, trying to make sure that I was not going to do anything stupid.

This is where your real friends come in to help. My friends Dale and his wife Klarissa were always there for me, keeping me sane, making me smile and laugh, taking me fishing and hunting and as time went by I became my old self.

Now fast forward to 2011. A friend of both Dale and mines, infact he was Klarissa's uncle and was responsible for getting the two together, was diagnosed with lung cancer. He did not smoke, drink or do any other things like drugs. He used to joke that he was just lucky. Joppy was diagnosed in May and passed in July, very quickly. Although we were both of his friends, I felt it was my time to help Dale and Klarissa out, like they helped me out.
.
So I hold my friends very close to my heart. My friends have always been there for me, unlike some of my own family. I count on them, I trust them and love them, and I will never do wrong by them. That's what I am thankful for, true friends who can always be there, whether to make you smile or to comfort you, a true friend is a blessing, and a welcome one at that.

Thank you for the opportunity to tell you a little story.


Matt, about a year before he passed.


Matt and I.


Joppy, down the rifle range, holding my Lee-Enfield and Dale's .308


Dale, Myself and Joppy on Dale's wedding day.
 
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Wow tough post to follow up...... Just give it to him the guy that posted before me Nathanj he deserves the prize thank you for your time and good luck to everybody
 
I am thankful for pretty much everything I do. Every breathe I take and every morning that I awake. I had open heart surgery at 2years old and made it. Now I am 42. Made it out alive after 15 years as a US Army Infantryman with 2 yours in Iraq 2003-2004, and 2008-2009. 2009 my son was dia with autism so that has been a handful. 2010 was probaly my worst year. I came back from deployment Nov 2009 with alot of problems and drink everyday in 2010. I am thankful that I have stopped drinking, and so glad my wife is still with me. Father shot himself the day after fathers day 2012 and that was hard on everyone but I am thankful everyone pulled through. I try to teach my son the best I can a path of non violence. With autism its a challenge. I am thankful for my upbringing from my grandparents and the values they shared with me. Overall I am thankful for life its self and the healing I have begun within myself. Still have a long road ahead but every day is another step forward to driving on. Thanks
 
I am only 16 years old so I havnt had as many experience as my fellow members here but...
I still have something to say on the subject.
For thanksgiving my family doesn't do anything to special just regular old thanksgiving.
Family all coming together to celebrate and be thankful for all the wonderful blessings and events in our lives
The good and the bad.
I like to thank God for all the experiences I have had in my life( for my life). Every single one. Even the ones that made me cry or put
Me our someone I loved go through very difficult times. See everything we experience makes us who we are today. If I never experienced some of those "bad" experiences I most defiantly would not be the same person I am today. And same with the good! I am so blessed to have a family. To have parents that support me in all my endeavors and help me through all my trials. To have wonderful friends that I can trust will help me in difficult times. And To have life. As long as I can breath I will be thankful. If you think about it we should be thankful for everything. For this world we live in,for the beauty it holds, for the people who inhabit it, and for me one of the things I am very thankful for is that I have the ability to help others. Now I don't have really any money. I'm a full time student and after school activities take up all the rest of my time, but when I get the smallest opportunity to help someone out I will take it. Because I know when I need help or even just needed my day brightened abit it made me feel great that someone actually took the time to brighten up my life alittle bit.
So back to thanksgiving! Well we eat a delicious thanksgiving dinner made by the family together! And we sit and eat and then go around the table and say some things we are thankful for. ( some of mine I mentioned)
Exactly what I should be right? You and your loved ones coming together to spend sometime with one another and be thankful for each other and such? I think so! Now I think all of us NEED to cherish this time with our loved ones because who knows how much is left.
Sorry I might not have worded this whole post very well so please excuse my mistakes!
I am very much looking forward to seeing everyone else's post!
- Thank you for your time everyone
 
Great stuff guys, especially the tributes and pictures. I think we're all on the same page :)
 
I'm very thankful that, for whatever life throws my way, I don't have to face it alone, there are always smarter, wiser people to whom I can turn, and at the end of the day I trust that none of it is purposeless.
 
Bump! The big day is almost here. I'm thankful I remembered to take the turkey out of the freezer to start thawing yesterday ;)
 
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