Thankfulness Is …

A warm t-shirt on a cold day …

Actually, I don’t know if thankfulness really is that, but it’s the first thing that popped into my head. So I wrote it down. I do that sometimes. I know I shouldn’t, but I still do. Yikes.

Anyhow, tomorrow is Thanksgiving!! Which, I am certain, you already figured out based on the terrible turkey drawing above. Can’t pull one over on you guys, can I? Alas, I don’t think drawing skill is one of the things for which I should be thankful. I would say I draw like a fifth-grader, but that might just be an insult to fifth-graders the world over.

It is absolutely unbelievable to me that November is already (almost) over … that Advent starts in just a few days … that my parents are coming to visit for Christmas in just three weeks (eeeek!) … or that Christmas is bearing down upon us all, bringing with it the oddly primal need to put up lights and outdoor decorations, the giddy joy of friends and family, and the hectic stress of trying to complete holiday mailing and shopping on time. Whew! I’m exhausted just typing all of that out loud.

I think Thanksgiving tends to get overlooked a bit in our society. We are all about making a buck, so it seems Christmas decorations follow right on the heels of Halloween ones. I suppose there’s not much money to be made from turkey-themed tchotkes. I guess I can understand this. After all, turkeys are not the most attractive or nicest birds in the barnyard.

I’ve always liked Thanksgiving. I like the idea of, just for a moment or two, getting off this crazy merry-go-round thing that is life, taking a breath, and remembering just how very much good fortune has come my way. I like the idea of a whole day that is devoted to family and friends. I’ve spent many happy Thanksgiving days and nights at my parents’ house, in the midst of aunts, uncles, and cousins, all of us laughing and telling crazy stories while we play dominoes and cards. So many memories get passed around each year, taken out and displayed with pride like the true treasures they are. It’s a wonderful time to reconnect with those you love. To remember just where you come from. To think, for a moment or two, about where you’re going and about what you might do once you get there. When I think of Thanksgivings of my past, the memories are warm, with sepia-toned edges, like precious photographs from my family’s albums.

This year, as in most years since we moved to Virginia, we will celebrate without our extended families. Just my hubby, the kiddo, and me. But we are blessed with wonderful friends who, over the years we have known each other, have become a second, surrogate family. And I know we will all sit down to the table together. We will all ooh and aaah over the wonderful bounty placed before us. We will tell stories and jokes, each of us trying to talk or laugh the loudest. We will all feel warm and treasured and loved. There will be old memories, and new ones, too. Because, even though some things change … other things — the important things — stay the same. I think that is the thing for which I am most thankful: today, tomorrow, and always.

Happy, happy Thanksgiving to all of you who celebrate this holiday. I hope tomorrow is everything you expect and nothing you don’t, and that it’s filled with laughter and the most wonderful memories of all. And, to those who don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, a wish from me to you that you will have peace, love, joy, and the warmth of your family and loved ones around you.