THANKFUL

Since the beginning of the month a lot of my "friends" on FB have been posting something they are thankful for every day. I've been saving all of mine for tomorrow. For today...a little of my feelings on giving thanks :)

Thanksgiving gets a bit of a rip off in the grand scheme of holidays. School starts and, immediately, the Halloween decorations are out in stores. Before those even come down you start seeing Christmas trees and by the middle of November stores are awash in green and red, silver and gold, glitter and glitz for Christmas. Thanksgiving gets lost in the shuffle and that's a shame. I'm a firm believer that Christmas decorations shouldn't go up until the day before Thanksgiving at the earliest - though, if I had my way, they wouldn't go up until the first week of December.

Now, admittedly, Thanksgiving isn't my favorite holiday but I like the idea of it. I like the idea of taking a day off specifically to give thanks for all that I am blessed with. I like the idea of stopping to appreciate just how good my life is and how lucky I am.

To be realistic I'll admit that a typical Thanksgiving for us revolves around two things: FOOD and FOOTBALL! Our family is not the type to go around the table and name one thing that we're thankful for or get all mushy and talk about how lucky we are to be together for the holidays - that's not our style. If you look past the craziness though, you can see it.

Look past all of us crowded into Auntie D's living room/kitchen eating off plates on our laps. Look past all the yelling at the tv for whatever ridiculous play just happened during the football game. Look past the fact that everyone's in jeans and t-shirts, there's a lack of fancy place settings and centerpieces and not all of the plates and serving platters match and you WILL see it.

You'll see a family that loves each other. You'll see a family that's there for each other and that stands up for each other. You'll see a family that has each other's backs.

You'll see a family that is THANKFUL.