Thanks.Giving

Today has been a day.

For me, a different Thanksgiving Eve than I'm used to. Thanksgiving Eve is usually filled with lots of cooking, food preparation, a tiny bit of shopping, and usually a trip to the library (I don't know why it's happened that way, but for the last four years we've ended up at the library on this day). It's the day that I really start listening to holiday music. It's a day I spend feeling cozy with my kids, getting ready for the upcoming season.

Today I had to go to Xpedx. I didn't know Xpedx was going out of business and everything was 50% off. Quite fortuitous for my wallet and the Young Women budget. Less fortuitous for my children and aching back. Not only did it take me 10 minutes to find a parking space and then walk 10 minutes to the store (after an unfortunate/stubborn/rude man caught the wrong end of my temper), the lines were so bad I could hardly navigate through the store, and then I had to wait to purchase my items. Oh the wait. Let's just say I entered the store at 11 AM and left at 1:45 PM- only shopped for 1 hour. My kids did not enjoy standing in line for that long, and I didn't enjoy not having them contained; there were no available shopping carts. I was frustrated. The kids were tired and hungry. But my purchases totaled $45 instead of $90. Unfortunately shopping for three hours at one location was not on the schedule.

I came home and immediately started the food preparations. Let me tell you, nothing makes me miss my favorite vegetable peeler more than Thanksgiving Day food preparation. Peeling 15 pounds of potatoes with a foreign tool is weird. And yippee! I still have 3 dishes left to make... and dinner. Then I'll need to retype a script for the Young Women program, along with 4 other organizational tasks that really do have to be done.

This story does end happily though. Leah was happily (shocking, I know) folding socks while I was mashing potatoes when she started in on why we celebrate Thanksgiving. She gave me a good lesson on sharing and attitude. Leah told me that if my attitude isn't happy and giving I may as well not give at all. No one wants onion dip served with a grudge, right?

So, now I'm sitting typing. Giving myself a time-out. Because Thanksgiving is a wonderful time of year. And I have much to be grateful for. So much. First and foremost on my mind, my family. I have two healthy children, who love each other dearly. I have a husband who is caring, supportive, honest, and who loves me. I'm pregnant, which doesn't happen so easily all the time. I have a healthy pregnancy, which also doesn't happen all the time. I am blessed. I feel humbled as I try to list those blessings and how dauntingly large that task is.

Ralph H. Blum said, "There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude, a quiet joy."

And now, I am calm.