Happy Thanksgiving!

Two days from now we will be celebrating Thanksgiving. Have you noticed that in the retail world Thanksgiving is almost invisible - as Christmas decorations have been out since before Halloween?
I love Thanksgiving because...

• I love the smells of turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy cooking. However, my kids have requested a different menu. We're having spaghetti, and "football food." Football food is all the things you eat while watching football - you know, finger foods like chicken wings, meatballs, chips and dip, fruit, etc. This leads me to the next reason...
• I love getting together with family. When I was young we always got together with my cousins. I loved the food - but I loved being with my cousins all day even more. Now that I have my own family, I love when the kids all come home and we eat together, watch football, and play card games and board games.
• I love watching football.
• God has been so good to me - I love having a special day to be thankful. Not just my thanks as I go about my day, but a whole day to focus on just how much I have to be thankful for.

So here's the beginnings of a list of things I'm thankful for: my husband, my children and grandchildren, my parents and extended family, my job and Craig's job, our cabin, my health. I'm thankful that I have two eyes that see, hears that hear, two legs and two arms that work, teeth to chew with, food to eat, a home, clothes - enough so that I have a choice of what to wear each day. I'm thankful for the freedoms we have in America- the freedom to choose what job I want, the freedom to go to church, the freedom to be me. I'm thankful for friends and good neighbors. I'm thankful for the gifts and abilities that God gave to others that we can all appreciate - composers, musicians, artists, writers, doctors and nurses, pastors, hockey players (and other great athletes), etc. this list could go on for pages. What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving? take some time to count your blessings, to look around you and express your thankfulness to God and to the others that bless your life.

Happy Thanksgiving!