As we meander through our days, have you noticed how many things are beckoning you?

Heading into our hectic holiday times, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. We hurry to arrange all the needed ingredients for a Thanksgiving feast. Hurry! The day of the turkey is beckoning you, and it’s right around the corner. Have you gotten the decorations up? They are calling you! Have you gotten the green bean casserole ready to serve? Everyone loves that iconic dish so be quick about putting it together.

Oh, and the needed wine to go with your turkey dinner? That turkey is asking for a nice bottle of Meiomi Pinot Noir. This medium bodied wine enjoys nestling up to the delicious turkey and to enhance the chewing experience with its light plumy and oaky finish. Don’t dawdle – the wine is reaching out to you.

It’s also interesting to note things that are taking their time to accomplish what they are being called to do. For instance…

As we all know, it’s Fall, and it’s the time of the year when the trees are called upon to drop their leaves. It’s usually a mass dropping, but, while sitting in a city park, I noticed a huge tree ignoring the beckoning call of Fall to drop its leaves. Standing among an array of bare trees was a red oak tree that was hanging onto its red leaves in direct opposition to the calling of the Fall gods. What a beautiful sight!

Fully knowing that old man Winter will soon descend upon us, that red oak tree was treating us to the last colors of the season. Hey! Red Oak Tree! Thanks for ignoring the call to drop your leaves – at least for now.

Yes, the red oak was still ignoring the beckon call of Fall, but, I guess, we shouldn’t ignore the call of the soon to arrive Christmas season. Now, there’s a time for beauty, celebrating joy, togetherness and…stress. Don’t deny it – we all live through some stress during that holiday time of the year. We can’t escape it, and we can’t ignore the hectic holiday.

However, I was given a piece of advice lately that made a lot of sense. While shopping at a local store, I entered into a conversation with an employee of the store. Our conversation centered around getting ready for Christmas. The employee was telling me how the store’s staff is heavily engaged in getting all the Christmas items onto the store shelves as quickly as possible. She said they were all being called to work extra hard to accomplish the shelving as quickly as possible. Talk about the beckoning call of Christmas! Then, she told me how she tried to minimize the holiday calling.

Her wisdom was simple and profound. She shops all year for the holiday. The smile on her face told me how good she felt about doing that year long shopping – wonderful wisdom.

You know it’s not necessary to answer every beckoning as soon as possible. It’s alright to first of all, decide which beckoning you wish to respond to and filter out the unnecessary callings. So, during this time of the year, take time for yourself. Do what you want to do.

Therefore, to heed my own advice, I’ll walk by that red oak tree again, and thank it for teaching me a lesson in life. Then, I’ll sit down with a delicious Rob Roy cocktail ( scotch whiskey, sweet vermouth and bitters) and try to figure out my calling – whatever that is.

May you always find your beckoning to be fulfilling.

As always, eat and drink in moderation, but laugh with reckless abandon!

Cheers!