So Thankful

This post is a little late. Our Thanksgiving this year was a little on the nuts side. Not nearly as nuts as our Christmas used to be before we had kids, but nuts all the same! Thanksgiving morning we kind of lazed around just a bit, enjoyed a little of the parade, and then were off to celebrate with the Gannaway side. We visited with both sides of Steve's family and had a wonderful day of it, came home full (although the careful planning of when to leave so that the overtired children could fall asleep in the car, but only if they were able to stay sleeping when we got home so that we avoided the whole "nap in the car, never sleep at night" scenario" meant that although the adults were feeling fat and happy, the kids were hungry about the time we headed home. Since reheating leftover Thanksgiving dinner is not a good "in the car" event, we actually stopped at McDonald's for the kids. I hate patronizing businesses on Thanksgiving since it justifies them being open and thus takes someone away from their family, but in this case, I was so glad they were open!) and happy and made an early evening of it. Friday morning we got up and had a bit of a lazy morning again with just a little black Friday shopping online for me. Then we were off to celebrate Thanksgiving on the Schultz side. It was another fantastic day with family and we finally made it home in time to put the adults to bed for the night. Saturday was spent decorating the house and Sunday after church we went on a Christmas Tree adventure (that's another post) and finished out the weekend with the local Christmas Parade. Yesterday was a day of recovery and today I am sitting down to count my blessings (at least publicly - I actually try to count them daily and of course focused on them over the holiday weekend).

I am truly thankful for each and every blessing in my life. This year I am most thankful for my health, for my wonderful and amazing husband who truly has stood beside me in times of sickness and in health, in times of abundance and in times of lean, when I'm happy and when I'm sad, through every day of my life since our first date, for my beautiful children and for my amazing God who makes it all possible. I am also thankful for a home that not only provides shelter over our heads, but is filled with love and warmth the whole year through. I'm thankful that my husband has a job and is able and willing to provide for our family. I know some of those things sound cliche, but they are also things too often taken for granted. I want to remember not to think for a minute that I am owed anything in this life - that I am blessed by each and every thing that makes up my day to day life. These things are all privileges, not rights and I should remember more often to treat them as such. May this be a year for remembering blessings every day.