Tracking a rambling mind

Today I'm going to let me mind ramble and see where it goes.

Do you ever wonder what children in China play with? Where do their parents get their toys?

First it was lead in the paint in an increasing number of toys maufactured in China, and now it's a substance on another toy that, when ingested, mimics a toxic drug. We're worried about finding Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, and right under our noses toys are capable of harming children.

Maybe that was Saddam's plan after all. Hide those WMDs really, really well.

And on another subject, my mind rambles to Thanksgiving. Whatever happened to it?

As soon as Halloween was over, grocery stores had replaced all the candy corn, buttercream pumpkins, and dinky little Milky Way bars with candy canes and marshmallow and chocolate Santas. We went straight from Halloween to Christmas, and we're ignoring Thanksgiving.

Well, not completely. There's still some mention out there about turkeys and cornbread vs. bread dressing, and overindulgence. But what happened to why we celebrate Thanksgiving and some reverence for the occasion? It's become a four-day holiday and an excuse to sit in front of the TV, pig out on leftovers and watch football games.

Maybe if there were an association with chocolate or some reason to shop other than for a turkey and cranberries, Thanksgiving wouldn't be left out.

If holidays were personified and had emotions, I bet Thanksgiving would be really ticked off. Like the middle child it would act out to get attention away from the firstborn, Halloween, and the youngest, Christmas. If Thanksgiving wanted to do something really, really mean to get some attention, it would retaliate somehow — like inventing green bean casserole.

That stuff has to be the ultimate in rude food. People take a perfectly good vegetable, dump some salty, cholesterol and fat laden cream of mushroom soup over it, then add some chemically based substance being passed off as fried onions on top of that, bake it and offer it up as a contribution to Thanksgiving dinner. That's got to be one of the nastiest things anyone could do. I once attended a potluck lunch where three different women brought green bean casserole and each one insisted hers was different and hers was better. Only a rebellious soul would pit three otherwise nice ladies against each other in such a vile fashion. Green bean casserole is capable of ruining friendships, dividing families and causing strokes if you eat enough of it, and who wants to?

We'd better be nicer to Thanksgiving and give it the credit it's due. Who knows what else will follow? Something vile perpetrated on broccoli? It's bad enough people dump cheese on it.

And while we're on the subject of unhappy holidays, a minister recently suggested that Halloween, once the evening prior to All Saints Day and a particularly religious holiday in its origins, has lost its original significance. It's about as religious as Christmas is getting to be, he said. Sometimes it's surprising to hear someone comment that government and civic organizations shouldn't concern themselves with Christmas and other religious observations. It's almost automatic to respond, "what's religion got to do with Christmas?" It's become a reason to buy stuff, to sell stuff, and for retail businesses to plan their revenue for the year around. It has more to do with talking snowmen and flying reindeer than with shepherds and wise men. Put up a decorated tree or a nativity scene in a public place and watch all the government-types clamor for separation of church and state.

But they all take the day off work that day. After all, it's a holiday. And they want to be home to see their kids unwrap all their toys. Made in China. Because they work cheap over there and keep the price of toys down.

And now I've rambled into a circle.