Happy Thanksgiving

I absolutely LOVE the holidays. This is due partly to the fact that I am a very sentimental person and partly because I have a mother who loves holidays. She has always and still continues to go out of her way to make each one (whether a national holiday, birthday or other family celebration) so special. I am grateful for her excitement that always made holidays magical while I was growing up, and that still makes them just as magical today, even though I'm not always able to be with her to celebrate.

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday, second only to Christmas, because my birthday falls around the same time. ;) But I also love this day because it is a holiday of thankfulness, family, traditions, food and love. What a wonderful thing to spend a whole day celebrating our blessings, expressing our gratitude for them,  giving and receiving love. To spend a day surrounded by loved ones in warm homes around a tables full of food prepared with love and care. To me, that is magic and something to be thankful for. I realize that we should count our blessings and express our thanks to our Heavenly Father every single day. I'm not perfect at doing this. So I'm grateful for Thanksgiving Day, because it not only reminds me to be more thankful, but it allows me to take a moment in an always busy year to pause, reflect upon all that I have and really internalize what that means.

I am grateful for many things:

A kind, loving, hard working husband.

Loving, wise and selfless parents.

A loving family.

My loving Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ.

My membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Good health.

Good work.

A warm home and enough food to eat.

Life is good. Life is full of blessings. I know that I'm more optimistic after taking a day to celebrate and be thankful for those blessings. And for that, I am grateful. Happy Thanksgiving.