#PayItForward: What Do Nordstrom and Mary Tyler Mom Have in Common?

Most Fridays, I will share with you a post from another blog that I find particularly moving, interesting, or funny. They will be posts that fit the DKL mold... ones I think people who read this blog would enjoy. Another blogger I follow started something similar. I also wanted to do this because someone paid it forward to me, giving me tons of new followers. So this is the least I can do...


I'm a big fan of Nordstrom. Not that I even shop there. You wouldn't catch me in a $40 t-shirt unless I won it in a bet. No. I'm a big fan because of this:

I'm also a big fan of Mary Tyler Mom. She and Nordstrom agree that Thanksgiving should be given its due. So do I. It should be recognized and celebrated. Not glossed over or set aside to make room for Christmas.

Sometimes I'll read a blog post and it's so freakin' good it actually makes me mad. Mad that I didn't think of it and mad that I didn't write it myself. Not that I'm putting myself in the same esteemed company as MTM.  For those of you who don't know her, she is a wonderfully insightful and talented writer who crusades for pediatric cancer research since losing her daughter Donna two years ago. She wrote this post last year about Thanksgiving being lost in the hustle between Halloween and Christmas. And she nailed it. I still love it, and I think you will too.

Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away. And I am finding myself having a lot for which to be thankful, especially following Hurricane Sandy. One of those things for which I am thankful is MTM, whom I have never met but love and consider a friend. Her post is spot on, funny, witty, sweet, emotional, and poignant. All in a few paragraphs. It is my honor to share this with you:

"Thanksgiving: Wherefore Art Thou?"

Last night Mary Tyler Son and I were walking home from the babysitter when he squealed loudly at the sight of Christmas lights. He ran ahead to get a better look. We've barely made a dent in his Halloween bag of treats and it's already time for Christmas. NO.

Let's all decide to put the NO back in November: NO to premature Christmas. NO to Christmas music that makes my ears bleed if I hear it before December 1. NO to holiday sweaters on the racks. NO to candy canes. NO to lights on the trees. NO to Santa Claus. NO to retailers opening their doors on Thanksgiving, not even having the decency to wait until 3 freaking a.m. NO. (The best is yet to come. Click to read on.)