It’s the night before Thanksgiving and I’ve chopped, mixed, cooked, and baked in preparation for the big meal.  Oh, this is noteworthy, we are using a fresh turkey that we purchased from a neighboring farm friends at Worth the Wait Farm, since it was fresh processed and not store-bought it didn’t come with the weight on it. I literally had to use my produce scale to weigh the bird so I could calculate the amount of time it would take to cook the thang!  I guess you had to be there, but it totally cracked me up!! I should have taken a picture… I’ve been in and out of the kitchen all afternoon and have loved every minute!! I don’t know about you, but some years it’s more enjoyable than others and this is one of those enjoyable years. I’ve had the whole family in on the fun and I know they have LOVED it!! Well, maybe not as much as me (smirky smile, with a little evil laugh).

Aren’t they lovely!?

Look at the color of those carrots??

Here’s another pretty amazing thing about living in the North, your freezer it HUGE this time of year! it’s like a big walk in freezer! There is a possibility that at this moment there is a table outside, under our car port that is LOADED with food!! LoL!! It’s 32 degrees… Hmmm, you think it’ll freeze?? I guess we’ll find out in the morning… EEK!!

Anyway, I’m thrilled to have so much already prepared for tomorrow’s feast. I hope that whatever your Thanksgiving meal looks like it creates an atmosphere of thankfulness and reflection of just how, in spite of what kind of year you’ve had, there is always something to be grateful for. I’m not sure if I’ve shared this story with you before, but I definitely feel like it is perfect for this moment… I can not tell you how many times my mom came home, picked me up and off to the nursing home we would go. It was usually because she was having a cruddy day. She had a dear sweet friend there and we would go visit with her. To be frank, it wasn’t my favorite thing to do as a kid, but my mom would remind me that there are always people worse off than yourself and the best way to get over yourself is to serve someone else. That lesson, while not intentional on her part, was an example to me of  just how important it is to look outside of ourselves and realize that Blessings are all around us.

There are so many other stories I could tell you about moments like that, moments that moved our focus from “me” to “others.” On Thanksgiving as you sit around a table full of people whom you love, or table of empty chairs that were once filled take time to focus on your Blessings. Remember to have a Grateful heart, even if it’s just the little things this year. I know one thing I’m Thankful for, you!!

Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; For His compassion and lovingkindness endure forever.                              ~Psalm 107:1 amp