Much Thanks To All

It's only a week - actually less, I realize - until Thanksgiving. Which means it's only a week until the day after Thanksgiving. Growing up in my world, the day after Thanksgiving - Black Friday (ugh - I don't like that term!) - really meant green and red Friday. It's been the day to deck the halls, swag the banisters, hang sparkly ornaments, listen to Nat King Cole's velvet rendition of The Christmas Song, peek in dark closets and under beds hoping to glimpse hidden gifts - the day to sweep in Christmas-time. In the household of close friends, the day after Thanksgiving has been spent hand-dipping delectable home-made chocolates - and sneaking plenty of morsels along the way. And to give Black Friday it's due, it is also for many, of course, traditionally the day to start Christmas shopping in earnest.

As excited as I am to exhibit with nativities, trees, stockings, mistletoe and holly, my enthusiasm for the Christmas Season, I think I might miss what I hope will become a Thanksgiving tradition hereafter: the Gratitude List. List of Blessings, Thankfulness List. Whatever you want to call it, I have enjoyed it so much. Reading the daily lists dear friends have prepared has been delightful. And composing my own thoughts on what means so much to me has been an exercise in appreciating what the holiday season (pre-Thanksgiving to post-New Years, in my mind) really means.

Yes, what I have slowly realized over the past couple of weeks is that what fills me with overwhelming feelings of gratitude is what Christmas truly represents. Maybe I am just being reminded of what I already know, or maybe I am learning anew true gratitude - I have all that I have because of our benevolent Father in Heaven. My life is rich and blessed because of what I have been given - both tangibles and intangibles. The inconsequential things I sometimes write about aren't - even the little things mean that Heavenly Father is continually aware of me.

Over the coming weeks, as I celebrate the birth of a small baby in a lowly stable, I hope I don't lose the awe I feel today as I contemplate how blessed my life truly is!

Today, my list includes:

1. Thanks to Cryptic Jennifer for starting this ball rolling.
2. Gratefulness to friends who share their Lists of Thanks.
3. Humble thanks that I am finally figuring that this Attitude of Gratitude isn't the end in itself. Rather, it's a prelude to something wonderful!