Thankful Thursday, HAPPY THANKSGIVING

I've read this week some posts this week about struggling with the holidays after a tragedy or particularly hard year.  I know that I can not possibly imagine all the horrible circumstances some people are dealing with this holiday season and understand that we all deal with loss and grief and struggles differently.  I hope that maybe if you are feeling less than thankful this year, maybe you will take a moment and at least try to see what you have in your life to be thankful for.

Personally I have endured some difficult holidays.  There have been several where I considered it may have been my last with my mom.  Those were hard because my heart wanted to be with her every second of those holidays in case it was her last but she was too tired to want to celebrate much, if at all.  And then there was last year when Thanksgiving fell almost a month to the day of her passing.  It would certainly be easy to be consumed by the grief.  To dwell on the fact that someone I love very much is not here to celebrate the way we have for some many years.  I could crawl in bed and let the holidays pass without any notice at all.  But for me, it has been better to grab a hold of each holiday and shake every last bit of goodness I could out of it.  For the lesson I've learned from having a loved one taken from me too soon was that we are not promised a next year or another holiday.  And while I miss my mom terribly and there are many tears in the holiday season as I am reminder of her and wish she could be with me, I am still surrounded by too many loved ones to not see what I have to be thankful for.

I hope that you all have a beautiful day today. And while you're enjoying the food and the company of the holidays, take some time to consider how much you have to be thankful for too!

The things I am thankful for...in no particular order (and certainly not a complete list)

• my personal relationship with Jesus Christ
• the faith to know that while my mom is not with me (where I want her) she is in a much better place
• my husband
• Timmy
• Johnny
• Bryan
• my large extended family
• amazing friends
• a job
• a home
• food
• heat
• warm clothes
• (semi reliable) vehicles
• my health
• healthy kids
• our freedom
• the many men and woman who serve to protect our freedom
• music
• the ability to HEAR music
• movies and tv and the luxury to be able to watch them
• my children's giggles
• watching my kids play a sport they love
• this blog, my readers and the opportunities it has given my family