Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. Aside from family, great food, and pumpkin pie (it's so good it deserves its own category), I love the spirit that comes with Thanksgiving. It seems like everyone is just....happier. For no specific reason, necessarily. And it seems most of the American population falls into this rut of holiday cheer from the third Thursday in November until the first day of January and then everyone suddenly comes down with the Winter Blues. I fall into this same trap, don't get me wrong, I just find it really interesting. Why can't we be grateful for what we have all the time? Funny how spoiled us Americans are...I found myself complaining the other day that my iPhone froze so I couldn't check my email for like two minutes. How pathetic that we consider situations like this a "problem," right? I've really been trying to be more grateful for the blessings I have (obviously, because it's after that third Thursday in November...haha) and I have realized more and more that we really do have so much to be thankful for. Especially here in Happy Valley, Utah. How often do we find ourselves complaining that we have to make our beds, clean our rooms, or do our laundry? And for each time we complain about doing these things, how many people are wishing they had a bed to make, a room to clean, and clothes to wear? It's humbling.
We watched this video in one of my religion classes and it was so powerful. Watch it--I dare you. ;)
My favorite part is when one victim is talking about all the devastation that has come from Hurricane Sandy because she said something that has stuck with me. In the midst of all this destruction--the victims being interviewed had pretty much lost everything--she said "we are luckier than a lot of people are." Wow. If someone who has just lost all worldly possessions can say they are lucky, how lucky (or blessed, rather) should we feel? There is a song by Josh Groban that I loooove. It's called Thankful. One of my favorite lines in the song says, "It's up to us to be the change. And even though we all can still do more, there's so much to be thankful for."
Happy Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and Valentine's Day! (It will probably take me that long before I have time to get another post up...)
