Thanksgiving

Today is one of my favorite days of the year. It is the day before Thanksgiving and we are preparing a host of fabulous dishes for the favorite people in our lives. Yesterday Steve and I teamed up to prepare most of the dishes and set the table. We do this in order to have a stress free day, the day of our meal.

You may wonder why we are celebrating a day early. In my mind everyday is Thanksgiving.. I have a trillion things to be thankful for and...our grandchildren were not available on Thursday so, what the heck, gather when you can.

Let me give you a quick run down of our menu. Picture this, Turkey, Swedish ham balls, ham, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole (compliments of Sean and Sarah), corn casserole (compliments of Melinda and James), potato casserole, dressing with Italian sausage, gravy, orange/apricot salad, cranberry/apple salad, rolls, pumpkin bars, pumpkin cheesecake, and pecan pie (compliments of our dear friends Dick and Barb. and I am proud to say, everything is homemade!!!

The real reason I love today is because I have the privilege to show my special family how much I love and care for them. The food is an important part of our tradition but so is our time of prayer and sharing what is important to all of us.

My life has been so blessed. I was allowed to grow up in a Christian home with parents who cared about our life goals and supported us in our choices. I was blessed to marry a man who turned out to be my best friend. God helped Steve and I adopt the most beautiful baby, over forty years ago. Little did we know, that by doing so, we would be blessed with four perfect grandchildren. Again our life was enhanced by giving birth to our special daughter, thirty eight years ago. And because she is so loving, we are fortunate to be able to help raise her step granddaughter.

I personally want to thank my two donor families who made life-changing decisions to donate organs, so my life could be enhanced to allow me to be active, alert and alive! I feel they did not just touch my life, they have touched my family, friends and everyone who will hear my story.

We join together to reflect on our past year and anticipate the joys and challenges of the year to come. Thank you God for standing with us day to day.

Happy Thanksgiving!
Jan