A Thanksgiving Day thankful list!
Happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers!
Thanksgiving is always on a Thursday for us, so that works out quite nicely. American or not, you can do the usual: make a thankful list with me. 🙂
This week, I'm thankful:
that Zoe's got her learner's permit
I remembered all the proper paperwork, she passed on the first try, and the whole thing only took about an hour from start to finish, which is respectably speedy for the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Zoe and I were saying that they should hire some of the smart people from Aldi to help them reduce their wait times because Aldi knows how to move people through in a jiffy.
I realized that this is the last time I will take one of my kids to go get a learner's permit. 4/4 done!
There are some things I feel a little wistful about, but driver's licensing procedures are not one of them. I am 0% sentimental about trips to the DMV.
for the upcoming hours with Zoe in the car
We have to log a whole lot of practice driving hours before she gets her license (at the end of summer 2022). In some ways, having a student driver is a little stressful, but on the other hand, it does provide a whole lot of one-on-one time with a kid, and that is something to be thankful for.
that it's going to be easier to do Zoe's driving hours
When Sonia had her learner's permit, almost everything was shut down, which meant we had to be very intentional about driving.
Instead of having her practice while driving to church or college or anything like that, we had to just go out and drive randomly.
But with Zoe, it's going to be much easier to just work her driving practice into our normal life routines, since we do actually go places now!
for the way 2020 has made me appreciate having things on the calendar
I am still more of a homebody than not, and I do still prefer for my calendar not to be jam-packed.
But yikes! The 2020 calendar emptiness was too, too much for even me, and I am very grateful to be able to go places and see people now.
that I do not have to cook a turkey today
We are having dinner with my aunt and uncle and Lisey, and my dear aunt is doing the bulk of the food prep today. All I have to do is bring rolls.
Which, as we know, is very easy for me.
Bread-baking is like breathing!
for so many good book recommendations from you guys
I filled up my hold list at the library very nicely, and that's with me only getting about halfway through the books you all recommended!
for library books
Yesterday I picked up some of the medical memoirs you guys recommended, so yay for some free, fresh reading material.
Now I am going to have to resist deep-diving into these until my actual studying is done, though!
for the fact that face masks are nicer in cold weather
They are still required here in a number of places, so I appreciate the fact that they are a more comfy accessory in the cold weather. Much better than summer mask-wearing!
that our heat pump is fixed
Last Saturday morning at 6:30, Mr. FG and I both sat up in bed and said, "Do you smell that?"
It was a distinct burnt-electrical-wiring aroma and it was coming from the laundry room, where our heat pump is. Yikes.
Happily, we were able to find someone to come fix it that same day, so we were back in business pretty quickly.
I am thankful it was fixable and that we had the money to fix it. Mr. FG and I both thought back to the two times earlier in our marriage when our heat pumps had to be entirely replaced. Those were devastating expenses back then, but now, even if we needed to replace a whole heat pump, it wouldn't be nearly so terrible.
And that is something to be seriously grateful for: more budgetary margin!
I am thankful for you Kristen. Even when you post a topic I’m not really interested in I still read it because it is always thoughtful and kind. Thanks also to everyone who comments with the same kindness.
@cc,
I couldn’t agree more on both.
Aww, that is a nice compliment! Thank you.
And I echo your thanks to all the lovely people who comment here.
@cc, Completely agree with this post! Happy Thanksgiving to all!
As a nice surprise this evening my daughter arrived with leftover chicken dinner and dessert. This meal has been saved for tomorrow. Today I saw all three of my children and my new granddaughter. I felt blessed. Baby cuddles are so wonderful. We have had abundant rain which I love as the world is much cooler. Now if God could send rains to our dam that would be perfect. God bless everyone.
Happy Thanksgiving
Thankful as always for my IRL friends--and particularly today for this online community and everybody in it. Especially over the past year, I've appreciated your support more than I can say. Thank you, Kristen et al., and a happy Thanksgiving to you all.
Happy Thanksgiving, US readers!
Out of all the things I am thankful for, I want to highlight just two here:
Covid numbers are rocketing here but so far no one is impacted in my direct circle of friends and family. Neither the vaccinated nor the unvaccinated ones. And everyone is very very careful.
A massive thank you to the medical staff who are putting in such long hours to take care of all their patients, and are willing to put in overtime and assist on other wards than their regular ones as the need dictates. We should not take this for granted!
Happy Thanksgiving to all American readers!
I am thankful I got to spend the last weekend at Paris with my brother-in-law and his family. We all came to Paris to celebrate my late husband aunt 90 ies birthday. It was just lovely. Nieces and nephews and great-nieces and great-nephews - all made it to Paris from Germany, Austria and England. We spent three days together with 4 generations -around 20 people or so. I also had the joy of being with all three of my sons and my grandchild.
All of us were tested and/or vaccinated and so far no Covid case in the family.
Covid numbers are going through the roof here and I am grateful I will get my booster shot on Dec 8.
I am also very grateful for this blog and the friendly atmosphere here. It gives such a lovely and lively chance of learning about other people's life even thousands of miles away.
I am grateful there is the possibility of homeoffice at work - I do go into the office but the others don't :-). So I can leave the house to go to work but I do not risk any infection there.
I am so thankful for my dog and that I am allowed to take him to the office with me. Otherwise I couldn't have a dog.....in the office he makes my colleagues quite happy and they also enjoy his company.
Your Paris trip sounds just delightful! What a joy to see all of those family members all at one time.
@Lea, Being able to take your dog to work is amazing. The staff where I work would love having a dog around for the day 🙂
* Having the ways to go back to school without having to take out a loan
* 2 daughters that perform really well in school
* Having the opportunity - and enough seniority - to get on-call work during school
* Having the means to buy healthy food and the ability to cook it
* Health (mine and those around me)
I am up early waiting for the coffee to brew and finish up my share of the cooking. Kristen, I am also thankful to have things on the calendar again, and I’m especially thankful to spend the holidays with so many of the ones I love.
It’s been a crazy, emotional week for me and those I love. I am thankful and blessed that everything has turned out well.
My husband had a cardiac event while on a business trip last week. I dropped everything and flew 1/2 way across the country to be with him. I am thankful that I have the ability to do this.
I am thankful that he seems to be rebounding quickly.
I was blessed by many kind people who helped me get there on a moment’s notice. One of his coworkers made all my travel arrangements, my son took the dog, and my SIL took me to the airport.
I think that I felt a bit vulnerable and I noticed so many little kindness along the way. The hospital staff and the hotel workers made things easy for me and my husband.I am thankful for this. People can be most kind.
Most of all, I am thankful that we received the most wonderful new last night. My husband and I are going to become grandparents!!!!! We are over the moon.
Happy Thanksgiving. May your blessings abound and may love be the most plentiful thing on your menu.
@Bee, Yikes on the cardiac problems but yay for a new baby! Congratulations to the whole family, and especially you, Grandma Bee.
@Bee,
Good thoughts to you and your hubs to speed him to full recovery.
@Bee, Wow Bee, what a week of highs and lows, except thank goodness everything turned out OK with your husband.
Welcome to grandparenthood to be. It is the best. You will make a wonderful grandmother.
Oh Bee, I am so glad that your husband is doing all right now. Whew!
And big congrats on your wonderful grandbaby news!
@Bee,
I'm so happy to hear your husband is recovering! That's great! And congrats on a new baby 🙂 What a fun journey grandparent-hood will be!
@Bee, what everyone else has said: I'm so glad your DH is recovering--and congratulations on the coming grandchild!
@Bee, what a stressful time for you. Virtual prayers and hugs.
@Bee, I am sorry that you (and your husband) faced a scary and vulnerable time. I'm so glad things are looking up and that your grandbaby is on its way!
@Bee, I really like the blessing at the end of your comment. And congratulations. . . not only on the new grandbaby, but on your ability to see the good around you amidst difficulties!
@Bee, I’m glad your husband is doing better, and congrats on the grandchild announcement!
Thankful for
Science
My family
My coworkers
My son is safe on his sub! ( I think…NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS)
Happy Thanksgiving!!!
@Stephanie, you must live with a constant level of stress, with your son on a sub. I hope he continues to stay safe!
That my 2nd grandchild was born safe sound last week and my daughter is doing well.
While daughter, son in law and new baby granddaughter were in the hospital I got to spend all that time with my 2 year old grandson. It was exhausting but wonderful. I will always remember that time as so precious.
For my husband, always my husband.
For my family's continued good health.
For this blog.
For my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving, that retailers cannot take it over with consumerism. It is what it is being thankful, good food and good friends and family.
@karen,
Congrats on a new grandbaby!
@karen, Yay baby!
Thankful for a husband who is willing to work off my list and go grocery shopping for me so I don't have to drive almost 200 miles roundtrip.
Thankful he found everything for Thanksgiving at the grocery store. (Although he went a bit overboard with the 25-pound turkey, seeing as there's just the six of us. But I expect that of him now. He also brought home a 20-pound package of pork butt. He's a Meat Man to the core.)
Thankful we are not traveling for the holiday. Traveling is extremely stressful for me, and adding in family and holiday chaos (happy chaos! but chaos), so I am very happy to be at home.
Thankful for the lady who cuts and delivers our firewood. Such a luxury to just buy it, rather than my husband wearing himself out cutting it all. Plus, she always brings me several tubs of kindling she gathers from her wood cutting area. As the person starting the fire in the morning, I'm always particularly thankful for that kindling.
Thankful for bloggers who have continued to write interesting, well-written, and thoughtful content. You are a vanishing breed, Kristen, and I really do appreciate your willingness to continue writing material beyond 140 characters. 🙂
Happy Thanksgiving to all, and to all a delicious day.
On this most special Thankful Thursday I’m thankful for my wonderful family, who are so kind and dear that having them is like winning three lotteries and then finding out that, yes, there is a Santa Claus!
Happy thanksgiving everyone!
I’m thankful that we are having a thanksgiving dinner with some family this year! Last year we decided not to get together with anyone due to Covid (and since we have the only 2 children in the family, everyone was very upset with us, so stressful!)
Thankful my husband and I got our boosters yesterday (and no side effects, we took a chance getting them the day before thanksgiving)
I complete a daily gratitude entry and the one I did today was very long and detailed in honor of thanksgiving. To recap it here, I’m so thankful for my wonderful husband, my joyful kids, my loving parents and sisters, our cozy home in our friendly neighborhood, my job with great coworkers, my health and the health of my family, and my life overall!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
I am thankful for the health of my family, even if I won't see them today as they're all far away in Georgia 😉 I'm thankful for text messaging and phone calls and Facebook messenger which all make it easier to stay in touch.
I'm thankful for our cozy warm house, for two sweet kitties, for my partner-in-crime and his so very dry wit. He makes me laugh daily.
I'm thankful for my clients who put their trust in me.
I'm thankful for where we live and the opportunities for outdoor recreation.
I'm thankful for the giant turkey in the fridge. I know there are many out there who don't have the means to buy a giant turkey and I'm grateful for all the things we can afford.
I'm thankful for vaccines and boosters and science and the fact that tomorrow I'll get to go hang out with 7 of my favorite people at the golf course. AND finally...I'm thankful for the beautiful bike ride we got to go on yesterday.
I'm pretty sure the DMV is terrible by design. It's a mix of government bureaucracy, unions keeping around bad employees and no real desire to fix itself. My wife had to join AAA to renew her license this year because the RMV in Massachusetts absolutely refuses to open to the public more than 15 minutes a day.
But let's see if I can muster up anything positive today. 😉
I'm thankful that I did the bulk of the prep yesterday. I still mostly ended up doing everything myself *glances the side-eye at other members of my family* but at least I don't have to do everything today. I still need to make rolls but I honestly don't want to.
I'm thankful that this year we'll not be spending the day completely alone (my BIL and his girlfriend are coming over) but my family declined the invitation to be with my sister's kids (as usual.)
@Battra92, I am sorry the BMV is not what it should be.
I do wish to counter, though, with the BMV woman who went through what I needed to do to sell my father's car, in much friendly careful detail. That office in NW Minnesota is open 8-4, five days a week. Rural Indiana is open two days a week and closes for lunch, while pushing electronic renewals whenever possible.
My thankfulness this week is for family, friends (real and electronic), and people who enjoy doing the jobs that I don't like to do.
I am so thankful for my family. Our children and grandchildren are such a blessing and joy (ok, most of the time).
I am thankful for a son-in-law that loves to cook. He is handling most of the cooking today and it is wonderful. It will be a gathering of just the immediate family. All I have to bring is bread and some pies. Yay!
I am thankful to live where we do.
I am thankful for a little cooler weather today. It's nice not to start sweating from the time we get up in the morning.
I am thankful for this blog. I always feel better when I read it.
I am thankful for our friends. They make life much more enjoyable and we are blessed to know some really fine people.
I am thankful for really pretty weather today.
I am thankful for a safer Thanksgiving than last year. We have all received our Covid-19 vaccine booster shots.
I am thankful to be home for Thanksgiving this year. Some years we have traveled to New England (~330 miles) and it is a long drive with lots of traffic. We were there earlier this month and I was there last month as well. That's enough traveling for now.
I am thankful that we can combine the past with the present. Some traditions stay while others are replaced. We are empty nesters but have a bit of family in the area and they will join us today.
I am thankful that my husband and I are healthy. He had a bit of a health scare earlier this year but there was nothing that needed any treatment beyond a better diet and a small dose of a statin. I am grateful that I don't take any meds.
I am thankful for this blog. My attention to other blogs may come and go but this one is my only regular blog. Both Kristen and the commenters are wonderful.
As an add-on to what everyone else has already said, I am just deeply grateful to be alive. For all of it. Wishing my FG friends a happy and healthy Thanksgiving!
Thankful for my family and y'all in this community. 🙂
So thankful to be home, relaxing, with my children and pets today. Last Thanksgiving I was in the hospital with Covid.
Thanks to have gotten so much work this year. Three freelance jobs, two of which I'm still doing, and a new full time job with wonderful benefits. In fact, one of the freelance places was begging for me to work for them full time, too. As a woman in my 50s, I know that age discrimination is very, very real.
Thankful for the gang of feral cats I feed every day. Some days they make me cry, some days they make me laugh, but I'm happy to have them around. (Don't worry, they're all neutered.)
Thankful for my wonderful friends. Thankful for my mother, who's alive and has all her marbles. I couldn't see her for a long time because of Covid.
Thankful for Kristen and this great community. It's a wonderful place to read every morning. Thankful for all of you.
After a year of losing several family members, I'm thankful for the family and friends I have left that love and support me.
I'm thankful that we have the means to not worry about going over budget a little for food.
I'm thankful for living in an area that is mostly warm year round. Wearing shorts on Thanksgiving and Christmas makes me smile.
So thankful for a Savior that loves me no matter what and loves me so much that He doesn't leave me in the same state He found me.
I am thankful that--
*I didn't eat a second piece of pie; I'm quite stuffed already.
* I follow another homeschooling mom on instagram who highlighted cooking with the little ones. It inspired me to be patient with the little ones today and let them help cook.
*stretching my legs before I get out of bed really reduces the pain of my arthritis.
*I have all that I need and want. . . plus some.
*my children all said lovely things that they were thankful for at dinner this evening.
*people take a day out of the year to devote to gratefulness.
*God has blessed us in so many ways.
1. The husband, after 38 years still the best human I have ever known.
2. Pharma researchers, who have discovered the drugs taht keep me alive, when my brother with the same cardiac defect died because they were not around then.
3. For a cozy home. It was 33 below zero at our house this morning, and I know there are people living in tents around here.
4. For this blog, that keeps me interested and thankful for things.
5. To live in Alaska. Every time I go Outside to visit relatives, I worry that there will be a war and I will get stuck out there. Seriously, I always focus on how I would get back in a national emergency. When 9/11 happened, we had friends who could not get back here for weeks. No planes (although they ended up making an exception for small planes delivering food to villages because people were literally in danger of starving for lack of supplies.) No cars available to rent. They were just stuck in a hotel, waiting to see what would happen next. My worst nightmare. The only other worst nightmare I had was when I worked construction on the Trans Alaska pipeline, in my 20s. I was in a remote camp with hundreds of men and 3 women. I used to wonder what I would do if there were a nuclear war and I had to mate with one of these men in order to keep civilization going. It was not a happy thought, as this was not the cream of the crop of manhood. They would blow their noses on the foor, even on carpeting!!!! And some of them were so lazy that if they had to pee at night, they would pee in the corners of their rooms rather than walk down the (admitedly cold) hallway to the john!
@Lindsey, LOL. I know people sometimes fantasize about being stranded on a desert island with (insert name of very attractive person) and how they must keep civilization going. But who thinks of the opposite? Now I do, thanks to you 🙂 I've seen a lot with my crew of 7 kids, but I don't ever remember blowing noses on the floor. Thanks for the laugh!
1. For my kids and husband. They are the best part of every day.
2. For being able to gather with extended family today and tomorrow.
3. That my family is healthy and safe.
4. That both sides of our family live fairly close by so we don’t have to travel far to see them for holidays.
5. For science for making this year so much better than last year.
1. That I tested negative after someone in my office tested positive recently and are able to have my brother over for Thanksgiving after missing him last year. Thankful to be fully vaccinated and boosted, and have been very careful with masks and social distancing.
2. That he's bringing a really delicious homemade French crumb apple pie and cranberry sauce.
3. That we will have a nice quiet Thanksgiving and my office is closed on Friday so I can relax and putter around the house.
4. We have plenty of stuffing frozen for future meals. I love good stuffing!
5. We will be able to Facetime with family near and far.
Thankful that being grateful is a daily habit! Having a holiday that recognizes the importance of gratitude is nice, but being grateful as a mindful practice means the world to me.
Thankful that my daughter is maturing, facing challenges and getting back up when she's knocked down.
Thankful for the time to relax, not shop, just relax and do things with family I want to do.
Thankful for the many many privileges I have been given and I have earned, and the understanding that nothing is promised.
Coffee.