…the Holiday Season.

Tomorrow, this home begins to fill with family, chatter, laughter, and good smells, and it will be overflowing until Sunday.  So much to be thankful for this year.

It’s been a challenging year, but the mountain doesn’t loom nearly as large as it once did.  For that I am grateful.

I am thankful for my immediate family…my home is a happy one, our bonds are strong ones, and laughter is often.  That’s not to say we don’t have our moments, but the good far outweighs the bad and for that I am grateful.

I am thankful for my extended family…our parents are still with us, healthy, active, connected.  Our siblings are our best friends, and their families thrive despite some bumps in the road.  Aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins… All are well, and for that I am grateful.

I am thankful for my friends, near and far…they are also our family, and have been with us through thick and thin. They enrich our lives in so many ways, and for that I am grateful.

I am thankful for all the experiences that have opened my mind, taken me out of my comfort zone, and strengthened my connection with The Almighty. For those I am grateful.

I am thankful for my home with it’s leaky roof, and it’s cracking walls, and it’s old fashioned charm.  It is warm and comfortable, homey and loved.  All it’s flaws remind me that we bought what we could easily afford.  In this time when people have overextended and lost all they had, I am reminded that we made a blessed choice, and for that I am grateful.

I am thankful for the ability to see beauty in a clean sunlit window, a wrinkled face, a shriveling flower, a barren winter-ready world.  There is wonder all around and I am open to grace however it happens to find me.  For that I am grateful.

I wish you all a Blessed Thanksgiving, and a joyful kickoff to a Christmas Season filled with the things that matter.