A Time To Give Thanks

It's already been a week since Thanksgiving. And only 23 days til Christmas. We have a month of fun ahead of us (along with lots of projects and a long list of "to-do"), but I can't move forward without talking about my favorite holiday - Thanksgiving. I really tried to create a little more meaning to Thanksgiving this year. I mean, I love all the food and spending the day with family, but Thanksgiving should really be a time of reflecting on our blessings. And so I decided to start a couple new tradition for our family. On the first FHE in November we started our thankful tree. Each person said something they were thankful for and I wrote it on a leaf and then the kids put the leaves on the tree. We did this for each subsequent FHE, and by the time Thanksgiving rolled around our thankful tree was full. Having the tree hang on our fridge all month was a great daily reminder of all our blessings.

Then, on the night before Thanksgiving, we had a candle light dinner with take-out - Cafe Rio for Brian and I, and McDonalds for the kids - and we talked some more about all of our blessings. Ashlyn wanted to say what she wasn't thankful for, "bad guys...But I am thankful for the police who catch the bad guys...And I am thankful for some bad guys who catch all the tigers." We then each had to chose the one thing that we were most thankful for this year to write on yet another leaf, along with our signature and date. Those leafs we kept and each year we will take out all our leaves from years past and scatter them on the table to read during our candle light dinner. And we will then add another leaf to our collection.

The actual day of Thanksgiving was all it was supposed to be: great smells, time with those I love most, and delicious food. The only disappointment this year was the absence of Aaron, Monica, Ben, and Maggie. I'm still not used to them being gone.

I am mostly thankful for these guys -

Ashlyn is my girl. She's smart, she's funny, she's tough, she's sweet and she's beautiful. And I can't believe how big she is. I am already dreading next August when she will leave me for four hours a day.

Oh how I love my Trenters. He's sensitive and caring. He's all-boy with a big soft spot. I love that he still wants me to cuddle with him after a bath. It has been so fun to watch this boy grow, but I think I'd like to freeze time now and slow things down a bit.

I'm lucky to have Luke. I know several people who have struggled to have children or who have faced the disappointment of not having children. More than with my first two, I realized when I was pregnant for the third time, just how lucky I was. And Luke is a joy.

Yes, I do have much to be thankful for.