Thankfulness

Thankfulness doesn't even begin to cover it this year.  As Ken and I have said so many times lately, we really do have so much to be thankful for!  And this week was a time to celebrate that.  As part of the girls' curriculum this year, they have a whole week of activities set aside for Thanksgiving.  Since it is a Bible based study, it really focuses on the true meaning of Thanksgiving and why we give thanks.  We did some of the activities (like the woven placemats and such) and made up a few of our own.

This year we did a Thanksgiving tree.  The kids all traced and hands and cut them out and wrote (or drew) things they were thankful for this year.  Gracie particularly loved this activity.  And Ken led the kids in decorating the tree... have I mentioned that he is the crafty one?  Anyway, when we're done with the Thanksgiving tree, we will just remove the handprints (and keep them, of course) and the branch will become our Jesse tree for Advent.  But more on that later... on to Thanksgiving.

We had a fun morning lounging and playing and enjoying being together.  The kids played outside and we watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.  I must say that it wasn't as great as I remember it as a kid.  First of all, it's like watching the Tony Awards with all the Broadway musical stops.  Which is fine, unless you're 3 years old and just want to see the Spiderman balloon.  I also came to the realization that it is really just a 2 hour, 2 1/2 mile long commercial.  Why did I not realize this before?

But back to the important stuff.  The food.  It was yummy and we made lots.  We had turkey and dressing and green bean casserole and sweet potato casserole with pecans and yeast rolls.  Then of course we had to top is off with pecan pie and pumpkin pie.  I even made sweet tea for the occasion, which my kids just love.  Maybe they've got a little bit of southern in 'em after all.

The food was good, but the best part was having all my little people sitting around the table.


Eating together and sharing the day and just being thankful.


Since we've moved so much we've gotten used to spending holidays with our little family.  Right now, we're just too far away from "home" to go there for the holidays.  It was nice and quiet and simple and we loved the day.  But there was something missing too.  You just can't replace having more than one cook in the kitchen and cousins running around playing.  It's nice to see a room full of men watching football and lots of mama's helpin plates for the little ones and a table full of food prepared by lots of people that love you.  I wish my kids had that, but maybe they will one day.

In the mean time, we'll just enjoy holidays like this.  Looking in from the kitchen and seeing these faces looking at me...

Wow.  I am thankful.  So very, very, very thankful.

"Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;  for His steadfast love endures forever."

Psalm 118:1