Thanksgiving Thanks

Right now I am sitting at the dining room table with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law just talking and hanging out. It's a great night. The kids are exhausted from playing outside all day and the adults are exhausted from eating too much and doing too little. I hit a few of the Black Friday sales with my SIL to no avail. We really toyed with the idea of getting out at 5am, but decided (rather smartly) to shoot for a more attainable goal of like 7ish. While we missed out on a lot of the biggest "deals," we did pick up a few items and had some great conversation.

My "in-laws" are one of the things I am most thankful for this Thanksgiving. My other SIL and her daughter were not able to make it. We have really missed them this weekend. I often joke that I love my in-laws because I only see them 4 to 5 times a year, but I think its more than that. They are wonderful people who have fully embraced me and love me--even with all my OCD and high maintenance qualities.

Then there's my family, with whom we spent most of the day with yesterday. Boy do I love them, too! My husband and children, my sister and her husband, my baby brother, my Mom and Dad, my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and their husbands. They were all there. Celebrating Thanksgiving and my Dad's Birthday. We had a great time visiting, laughing and sharing stories.

Thanksgiving holds many fond memories for me. For as many years as I can remember until I was about 18 or so, my family would make a trip to my Aunt and Uncle's house in Nashville to spend the Tgiving weekend. Everyone gathered that Thursday for a huge dinner and to watch football. Later that afternoon all the men would make the trip back to Covington to hunt all weekend long. All the ladies would stay in Nashville for a weekend of shopping and girl bonding. Thanksgiving night we would eat pizza and then go watch whatever Christmas movie was playing at the theatre. We would wake up early the next morning and head to the mall for shopping ALL DAY LONG!! But it was different back then. There was no manical Black Friday silliness, just some good bargains to be had. At the end of the day we would gather back in my Aunt's living room and all take turns showing our bounty. It is such a wonderful memory for me. Things have really changed now. We all have our own families now and have to divide our time in different ways.

Most of all, though, I am thankful for God's amazing Grace. Grace that is so great I can lay my head down at night knowing that I will spend eternal life in my Father's kingdom. Thank you God for loving me despite me being me.