Twelve Days of Thanksgiving — T

T is for thankful

Everyone has heard of the 12 Days of Christmas.  I thought I would do my version of the 12 days of Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving:  the act of giving thanks; a prayer of gratitude to God.

The holiday season is here.  Everything is so festive decorated with pumpkins and turkeys.  I remember in grade school we used to pencil or crayon around our hand and fingers and then create a turkey out of it.  How fun!  This is the time of year when most people get into the giving mode and they are more generous than usual.  It is also the time of year that the non-profit organizations need help and donations as well. 

I love this time of year. It is perfect for cooking pies and cookies and cakes and filling the kitchen with the scents of cinnamon and cloves.  It is the time when Egg Nog is on the store shelves and candy cane coffee creamer and all of that other festive yummy stuff that is only available during this time of year.  It is the time of year to dig out the wool sweaters, polar fleece, flannel P-jammies and big fluffy warm slippers. 

T is for thankful, time to count our blessings and stop and think about some of the things that we complain about.  I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately because I find myself grumbling and then when I stop and think about what I’m peevish about I want to kick myself for being so absolutely self absorbed and ridiculous. 

For example, I will sometimes go to the mailbox and if there is nothing but junk mail I am upset that no one answers my letters in a timely fashion.  I have a wonderful pen-pal that I receive a letter from every week.  Bertha is truly a wonderful friend and God bless her.  I should never take her weekly letter for granted and I am thankful for having her as such a good friend and pen pal.

Another example is when I don’t hear from our kids as often as I think we should, I groan that they should call or visit more often.  They are not into drugs, they do not gamble, they are not in trouble with the law… good kids by worldly standards.  They are grown and they have their own adult lives to lead.  Some people don’t have that luxury of their kids still being around.  I am thankful that we do.

Still yet another example is when we go to the grocery store to do our bi-weekly shopping, I am sickened by the prices that we have to pay.  Everything is so wicked expensive and I find us cutting back in so many areas.  Then I realize that we have the means to go do groceries and when I find areas where we can cut back I realize we were more spending money on pleasure items than we don’t need (egg nog and candy cane coffee creamer).  I am thankful that we are able to buy groceries to prepare nutritious and delicious meals.

I remember growing up I hated, absolutely hated mashed potatoes.  My mother would always tell me to quit complaining and eat them and then she would make some comment about how children in Ethiopia were starving.  I had no problem if she wanted to box up the mashed potatoes on my plate and send them to Ethiopia.  I never realized what she meant until I had to purchase the food with my own earned money.  And then to see that food not be eaten and thrown away, finally made me understand what it meant about starving children in Ethiopia.  I think about the waste that gets thrown away everyday and I want to send potatoes to Ethiopia.

This morning when I took my shower I stood under the hot water a little longer than usual because I didn’t want to get out into the cold air. I was convicted while writing this because there are so many countries that have no water and I wasted gallons by letting it run down the drain so I could prolong the inevitable cold air.

I have a feeling the Twelve Days of Thanksgiving will be difficult and convicting.  Fridays I will save for Sweet Potatoes, but tune in the following eleven weekdays for the Twelve Days of Thanksgiving.

T is for thankful and I am very thankful for the time God has given me here on this earth to make a difference and bring glory to Him.

© Crackerberries 2011