In the same spirit as every other day we woke up on Thanksgiving Morning to children full of energy. They always have energy, it could be a boring old school day and they would still bound down the hall for our bedroom with the same enthusiastic leaps as they did on Thanksgiving morning. They are still young, they have only lived through a few holiday seasons and they remember less. They are more excited that Thanksgiving means they are that much closer to Christmas, the big holiday they know is great.
Yesterday was a day filled with family activities, from the mundane of cleaning up a playroom to the exciting of making wands. It was filled with adventure and new tastes. It was filled with family - near and far! It was filled with creativity. And at the very end of the day it was filled with the reminders of what it means to be parents, vomit in beds and children screaming in the night.
At one point yesterday we thought back to our Thanksgiving of past. Before children. When waking up early meant 9am not 5:30am. When we filled our tiny house with 20+ adults who have in time become our family. We remembered wacky cakes and coffee, we remembered goose dinners with artichoke heart casserole. We remembered eating in peace. And quickly I thought, how time has flown. How even though our children are young one day we will have that back; one day we will be empty nesters hopeful for a Thanksgiving with our children. Life goes by so fast. Children grow, we grow too. Life is precious.
When we celebrate thanksgiving it is not a remembrance of "the first thanksgiving," we don't glorify that with our children. Instead I have always focused on the need to spend some time remembering to be thankful. It is pretty easy to pray to God when things are going bad. It is pretty easy to name all the "wrongs" in our life. Yet to name the good is so good for you. Studies have found that people who make lists of what they are thankful for are more thankful people. Studies have found this helps! And it does. Even when life is crazy and families are prefect. Even when Thanksgiving dinner isn't what you thought it should be. Taking time to be with your family and remembering how quickly Thanksgiving came back around is important. Naming the wonderful things in your life and giving thanks to God for all the good is important. Embracing your beautiful, chaotic, messy and challenging life is always important.
I hope your thanksgiving was wonderful!
