Gratitude

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I love Thanksgiving. By far my favorite holiday. The only bad thing about this day is that it makes my husband a bit grumpy (but don't tell him I said that). The sharing of holidays isn't his favorite thing, but unfortunately there just isn't anyway around it. Especially when our families live approximately 10 minutes apart. I will admit that it can be a rather hectic day with food preparations and visiting both our families, but I still love it all.

We continued our Thanksgiving tree tradition that we started last year. The tree hung on our fridge all month and we gradually added leaves, each one listing something we are grateful for. Then, the night before Thanksgiving we had our gratitude dinner. We opted for pizza by candlelight this year and we talked even more about all we have been blessed with. I read our gratitude leaves from last year and then we each said the one thing that we are most grateful for this year, which was recorded and placed in our gratitude box.

This is what was said:

Brian - Good health. I am thankful my family is healthy and hope it continues.
Jamie - Modern medicine, so that my Dad had a chance to fight his cancer and live longer.
Ashlyn - Jesus, because he loves us.
Trent - Hoppy (his small stuffed lion)

We were spoiled with out-of-town visitors this year, which was a lot of fun. Brian's sister came up from Las Vegas and Brian's Grandma and uncle Pat were also in town from Illinois. His sister was only able to come the weekend before Thanksgiving, so Brian and I hosted a pre-Thanksgiving dinner. I had every intention of taking a few photos, but I failed. I did take one picture of Ashlyn and Trent with Brian's Grandma. Ashlyn took a real liking to Grandma Wanda and asked to go visit her every day while she was here.

Brian's aunt Mary, uncle Mike, and cousin Katie also came to town from Washington for Thanksgiving. Brian's family isn't very big, so it was nice having a few more people around to visit with, especially since we hadn't seen many of them for several years.

My family also had some special guests this year. Aaron, Monica, and their three kids made the 22 hour drive from Missouri. Aaron had to go back after Thanksgiving for school, but Monica and her kids are still here and will stay until after Christmas (Aaron will fly back to Utah in a few weeks).

It was a wonderful holiday, filled with lots of family, lots of good food, and much gratitude for all my blessings.