I am Thankful

Thanksgiving Day is a harvest festival celebrated primarily in the United States.  Traditionally, it has been a time to give thanks for a bountiful harvest.  Thanksgiving now is a time where people come together with loved ones to eat delicious food and enjoy each other's company.   As loved ones gather around the table, people give thanks to God for blessing them and their life.

This Thanksgiving was one of the best family gatherings my family has had in the past few years and I could not be more thankful.  As we gathered around the main dinning table to say grace all holding hands and bowing our heads, I felt incredibly lucky.   My dad did the honor of saying grace and after his words, I started thinking about what I am thankful for this particular Thanksgiving, and I know I have A LOT to be thankful for.   Isn't that what this holiday is for?   A day to help remind us how lucky we are.  

During dinner I sat and ate my Thanksgiving feast with my family while thoughts of what I am thankful for ran through my head.  What a year I have had and 2011 is almost here.   Beyond the rough patches that occurred this year, I have so much to be thankful for and truly am blessed everyday.   As a challenge for myself, I wanted to make myself write down everything I am thankful for this year, so that I can see my list next years Thanksgiving.

I am thankful for:

• My family- parents, siblings, Grandma, cousins, aunts, and uncles. 
• My best friends.
• My boyfriend.
• My job- I love my organization and I am living life in the city I truly love- Chicago
• Another year of good health for not only me but for my loved ones. 
• Park Church for helping me find my faith again.
• Finding my civic boards and becoming an assistant wedding coordinator. 

As you celebrated Thanksgiving this year....... did you think about what you are thankful for?   What great/amazing things happened to you over the past year?   Did you give thanks for what life has given you?  What are you thankful for?  I would love to hear about it. 

“Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough.”  -  Oprah Winfrey quotes

“A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all other virtues” - Marcus Tullius Cicero