Corby’s Column

I love the Holidays. All of you who follow me know that. I got the passion from my mom. Usually there isn’t a nook or a cranny that isn’t decorated. So the season starts with fall foliage and pumpkins and of course, Halloween.

Back in October of 2021, I spent the day in downtown Newnan celebrating Munchkin Madness, handing out candy to more kids (and parents) than I could count. At the time, we had an office on Jackson Street. And streams of every type of superhero, movie character, aliens and more came all morning.

Each year, Halloween just keeps exploding with new and crazier costumes and decorations. I finally finished “some” candy and looked up the day after Halloween. Remnants of Halloween were still up, but Christmas was now everywhere in the stores.

I love Christmas! I mean LOVE Christmas! Just ask Winters and all my friends. I am crazy about decorating, gift giving, gift getting, wrapping presents, decking the halls and just about every morsel of the holiday season. But most of all I love the celebration of Christ’s birth. That makes Christmas the best time of year.

Back in 2016 I wrote a blog called,  Can’t we just skip Thanksgiving? Frankly, once Halloween was over, I was ready to jump right to Christmas.

But you just can’t skip Thanksgiving and let it get lost in the shuffle. We can’t forget about Thanksgiving. We need Thanksgiving now more than ever.

We need Thanksgiving not just to celebrate our country’s history, but to remind us to stop and celebrate all our blessings. We can celebrate family and friends, life and the beauty all around us. We can, and should, be grateful for our blessings. To show, basically, gratitude.

We need Thanksgiving to remember the things we are thankful for.  It is hard to believe it is now November 2026 and I first wrote this column in 2021. There is so much upheaval in the country and division. Families and friends are divided. The politics of today have created big gas and food increases.

So this November I would like to urge each of us to celebrate each day for all our blessings. Let’s remember that we can’t ever skip Thanksgiving or any opportunity to be thankful. November is a perfect time to stir up the flames of love, hope, gratitude, faith and joy!

Setting aside a holiday or an ordinary day or just a brief moment to give thanks reminds us of God’s faithfulness, His provisions and His unending love for us.

So may you celebrate all the blessings you have had and continue to have in your lives, no matter how great or small! Take a moment to give thanks!

Be blessed and encouraged abundantly this holiday season and remember that we can NEVER ever skip Thanksgiving and jump to Christmas because Thanksgiving begins to prepare the heart of the believer for the most wonderful time of year, Christmas.

Happy Thanksgiving, dear friends, from all of us at The Paper and The Shopper. We count you as a great blessing! Now may the decorating begin.