Be Thankful, Always

I love Thanksgiving. The older I get, the more I appreciate holidays because they seems to diminish over time due to the workaholic and consumeristic nature of the world we live in (and I'm not excluded from that group!). Holidays, to me, have become so sacred because it seems we're heading in a direction where they're not valued as they once were. With stores opening on this day to sell cheap TV's (don't even get me started) I think a part of me feels scared that Thanksgiving won't even exist in the future. While there are underlying political issues of the holiday, I'm aware, I tend to lean more spiritual about holidays as simply time to spend with family. This is my religion. Family should always be valued and made a priority, regardless of how cheap that stupid TV is. And I feel so strongly that on these designated holidays, whether you have a family of friends or your own family to spend time with, this shouldn't ever change.

Josh and I don't do much for Thanksgiving. While sometimes I do miss the excitement of packing up the car, heading out of town on Tuesday evening, taking time off work and having the whole weekend to look forward to with a big group of friends and family. But, we do that at Christmas, so Thanksgiving For Two is actually rather nice. Especially this year with it being our first in our new house. We've started traditions over the years that I've grown to really look forward to! We start with pumpkin bread for breakfast and a morning walk in the woods, come home to start drinking champagne (yessssss), snacking on cheese and crackers and celery and cream cheese (my family's tradition) and we cook all day, play music, eat an amazing dinner, and then end the night with pie and ice cream while watching Planes, Trains and Automobiles. It's kind of awesome. Just sayin'.

I try really hard, even on the worst of days, to always stop and remind myself of what I'm thankful for, and like most people I use Thanksgiving as a way to really reflect on that. This year, I'm thankful for everything - like I am every day, and every year. I'm thankful for my friends, family, and my husband. I'm thankful for this house (especially because six months ago I was convinced we'd never find it, and here we are). I'm thankful for the memories we've already made here. I'm thankful for nature and the fact that we have a lot of land for animals to roam free on (I really love those darn turkeys and deer!). I'm thankful for big things like my freedom, and I'm thankful for stupid things like the fuzzy socks I'm wearing with a little fox on them. I just think it's so great to have a day where we can reflect on that without distraction, around loved ones, and with pie and ice cream.

Here's a snippet of our Thanksgiving day.

This view is mostly what sold me on this house.

The turkeys came to visit! We counted 22 of them. They know they're safe with us.