Overdue Gratitude

As I look at the last week - I realize that I am grateful for so many things. Here are a few of them (not necessarily in order of importance):

Health - (especially after the nasty Thanksgiving Day virus that hit my family and I)
Home - a place where I feel safe and loved - my own oasis and haven in the tumultuous world
Family - both my micro and macro. They give me the strength to be, and the freedom to be me. They love for my accomplishments and even my faults (I think) They also help me to laugh!
My freedoms - the opportunity to believe in whatever I want
Employment - there are many who aren't employed right now - my heart and prayers go out to them
Enough - I have food on my table, clothes on my back - possibly much more than many others in the world
Love - those I love and those that love me
Laughter - it keeps the world going, and gets me through difficult times
Friends - those who lift me and pick me up when I need it most
Life - birds, flowers, sunshine, blue skies, green grass and children's laughter
Books - they take me away when I need a quick escape
Adventures - something to dream about
Future - something to plan for
My husband - someone to dream and plan with
Air - clean mountain air to breathe
Stars - to sit on my porch and watch (with minimal light pollution thanks to our town's night sky ordinance!)
Roads - to get around on (when they are open)
Cars - that work
A furnace- need I elaborate?
Children - the promise of tomorrow and their laughter and excitement
Agency - being able to make my own choices and mistakes and be accountable for my actions
Music - where would my life be without it? I'd be expressionless!

I'm sure I could go on and on, but I stop there. Moving along, we had some family come in for Thanksgiving, which we celebrated early on Wed. It was a fairly simple meal, yet enjoyable. Thursday morning I woke up quite early feeling sick (I hadn't felt great on Wed.) and was thrilled when I started to feel better that evening. One of my children got sick Thurs. pm, and my husband the next evening. Needless to say - I am extremely grateful for modern day inventions such as indoor plumbing!
We enjoyed our guests - thanks for braving the weather, and for not being offended when I couldn't properly entertain.

Following are some photos of our dinner. We had the fairly traditional meal - turkey, potatoes & gravy, yams and apples, (candied yams for my brother) cheesy beans, homemade wheat rolls, homemade cranberry sauce (with raisins and walnuts,)and my favorite salad followed later by the pies.

Here we are out for pizza the night before



Dad and the girls hanging out and keeping out of the kitchen that morning



The Turkey




Check out the facial expression on some of these characters!


The pies
Lemon Meringue

Cherry

Emeril's Banana Cream

(Pumpkin - Not pictured)

Afterward






The finished puzzle



Finally - on another much less grateful note:

The Birds - my girls saw these on our neighbor's houses. It seemed too 'Hitchcockish' not to photograph. Kind of eerie!