So Much To Be Thankful For

This post will have absolutely no pictures of my actual Thanksgiving experience, mainly because I was too busy drinking in the joy of being around my husband's family (who I love) and then my mom's family (who I love) to step back and take pictures.

Also, because I'm a lazy picture-taker who had an iPhone already too full of pictures to take any more.

Instead, I'm going to share with you some random thoughts.  Aren't you so happy?

I saw this meme the other day: 

And it made me want to both laugh and cry at the same time, because it's true!  I personally love Jan.  

I also love Thanksgiving (must be the middle child in me that relates all too well).  

The baking, the time with family, the opportunity to be grateful for the things we've been given (right before a majority of America runs out and starts shooting each other over Black Friday deals, but then, I digress), the gentle reminders to be grateful without being overly attacked by pressure to BUY things in order to celebrate "properly," the opportunity to eat insane amounts of pie; I love this beautiful, warm, kind, happy holiday.  And the fact that it's getting more and more overlooked in our consumer-driven society makes me sad (okay, I'll stop preaching now).

This year, as I was trying to think of Thanksgiving traditions that my family and I could start in order to help us remember that November is more than the month between Halloween and Christmas (both big deals around here), I saw a friend's idea on Facebook and decided to shamelessly copy that idea into my life.

It's a Thankful Tree!

It starts out the year barren and bare, and as you and your family write down the things that you're grateful for on specific leaves, you tape them on to the tree and it gets full by the time Thanksgiving comes around.

Of course, because I'm a winner, I never ended up taking a picture of the full tree, but it looked beautiful and brightened up our dull autumny-feeling dining room in a way that made me happy every time I looked at it.

Because some of the leaves were just so precious, I decided to make sure we did this every year and today, I made this:

I put all of the leaves that each person wrote in a binder so that in future years we can look back and remember what we were grateful for when my children were all thankful for things like Elsa and their playgrounds, my husband was grateful for things like Red Bull and passing nursing tests, and I was grateful for things like my play going miraculously well and footie pajamas.

A few other things I'm grateful for this year:

Snuggling with my kids--even if I can't get them to stop sucking their thumbs (no matter how much cayenne pepper fingernail polish I use).

Letters from my missionary brother!

Dance parties!  In pajamas, no less!

This forlorn looking three-legged doggy, who really is much happier than he looks, promise.

Ice cream dates to celebrate good report cards!

Children who are learning to be independent, even if it makes for messy kitchens and questionable wardrobe choices.

This good-looking guy.  He's not perfect, I'm not perfect--but we're perfect for each other.  And that's saying something.  Besides, isn't he just SO good-looking?  I kind of melt when I see this picture.

Hope your Thanksgiving was awesome and that you had much to be thankful for!