Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving it next Thursday! Are you excited? I know I am! I love turkey and stuffing and pumpkin pie! (My oh my do I love pumpkin pie!) Thanksgiving is unusual, though, in that I think it's one of the major holidays here in America that just doesn't get enough attention. We eat for a day, lie around groaning, and then IT'S TIME FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!

Wait. Stop.

What is Thanksgiving for? Just the eating?

Well, it does all surround the eating, because it was the Pilgrim's way of celebrating that a) they had food, and b) they weren't dead. So yes, the eating is central, but so is the giving thanks for things, like not being dead. And having food.

So ends our somewhat skewed history lesson, and begins ....

My List of Things I'm Thankful For This Year!

1. Family and Friends
2. My house
3. Books, my own and other people's. (Especially Under Heaven, Jane, and the Sookie Stackhouse books)
4. Movies, particularly Toy Story 3 and How To Train Your Dragon
5. Dark Chocolate Peanut M&M's
6. Pumpkin pie, cookies, breads, and muffins
7. Stephen's Hot Sipping Cocoa
8. My new poodle jammies (Thanks, Jenn!)
9. My husband and I both have cars
10. I've been on four vacations this year: Romania, Las Vegas, Disneyland, and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It's been amazing!
11. My dishwasher might be loud, my clothes washer might occasionally smell funky, but by dang I'm not washing dishes or clothes by hand, and I am eternally grateful!
12. As of this moment, no one in our house has thrown up for 18 hours!
13. Boy has discovered LEGOs, Harry Potter, and Indiana Jones.
14. Boy can read
15. Cynthia Rylant's book, In November
16. The Charlie Brown Holiday Specials (Will anything ever be better than the Great Pumpkin? Or Snoopy making toast and popcorn for Thanksgiving, then pulling out an entire meal for himself and Woodstock after the kids leave?)
17. Shaun the Sheep
18. The Parasol Protectorate
19. My bed. (It's big and soft and warm!)
20. Baby Girl can talk!

And that's just to begin with!

If you're looking to get into that Thanksgiving mood, try these: 'Twas the Night Before Thankgsiving by Dav Pilkey, In November by Cynthia Rylant, The Thanksgiving Treasure by Gail Rock (out of print, but worth finding), A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving!