Thanksgiving Recap

Well, it’s 9 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day and even though I ate 9 hours ago, I’m still full. :) It was a great day.

I spent 2 hours in bed thinking and praying before I ever got up this morning. It was way too early to get up, but I couldn’t stop thinking about those who would not be celebrating with loved ones today. My thoughts wandered from the troops stationed overseas, to missionaries, to people who willingly choose not to be with family on Thanksgiving for whatever reason. I thought a lot about single 20 and 30 somethings who would be alone on this holiday. Those who are missing the one thing they want the most – a spouse. People who have recently lost loved ones and those without families were also on my mind. If you fit into any of the above categories, know you were lifted up this morning.

Personally, I celebrated the holiday with 14 family members (which is really a small group for us … we were at 50% of last year’s numbers). It was fun. It got loud. There was more than enough food. There was such joy and love experienced. It was great. At one point as I got in the corner of the room in order to get a picture of the entire room, I couldn’t help but smile and thank the Lord. Sure we had people sitting everywhere, but we were together. Celebrating one more holiday as a family. That’s not something I take for granted. I have too many friends who fit into the categories I listed above to not realize what a blessing it is. Sure, there are times I want to roll my eyes (you know that’s just how it is), but at the end of the day, we’re still family. And the time we spend together is precious. Even if I get bombarded with questions about why I’m single/not engaged/haven’t brought anyone with me. For the record, that conversation occurred 5 times today. Give it a rest people. ;)

If you’ll excuse me, I need to go get some sleep now in order to prepare for Black Friday. I leave my house in 6 hours. I’m sure I’ll have some stories to share soon …