Give thanks!

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, ever. As much as I love National Grammar Day and Guy Fawkes Day, Thanksgiving tops the list, every time. First of all, it's a cozy holiday, secondly, it usually involves much family, and thirdly, it reminds me how much for which I have to be thankful. Dear prepositions, I wish I could use you at the end of sentences. Things would sound ever so much better.

Anyhow, we all know I'm thankful for my family, and my friends, but there's so much else! I'm thankful for the hope of the Lord's coming. May that hope never grow dim in my heart, may I never stop jumping! I'm thankful for the colors of creation, and for snow, and for purple flowers. I'm thankful for road trips, and speed limits that are 65 and above. I'm thankful for music, and singing, and friends with iPods. I'm thankful for the ability to travel, and for travel-sized bottles of shampoo, and for my Kindle. I'm thankful for regular-type books, and words, and the power to imagine. I'm thankful for sunshine, and the Hey Cow game, and for the Game of Three. I'm thankful for new friendships, and old ones, and ones that I don't even know about yet. I'm thankful for my Sunday School class, and for sleep, and for sleepovers on the roof. I'm thankful for the possibility of GFD11, and for Friendly Vacation, and for family meal times. I'm thankful for prayer, and for family Bible readings, and for the fact that my parents pray for me every single night. I'm thankful for my mom, who waves me off to work in the morning, and for my dad, who lets me be as strange as I need to be, and for my brother, who is one of my best friends, and for my younger sister, now my sister in two ways. I'm thankful for my 11 nieces and nephews, and the three wonderful sisters and three wonderful brothers-in-law whom I never see enough but love anyway. I'm thankful for the years I had with my older brother, and the relationship we had. I'm thankful for laughter that makes my side hurt and tears stream down my face, and for sorrow so sharp I can do nothing but cling to my Saviour. I'm thankful for the human ability to love, and hope, and keep believing. I'm thankful that my sins are washed by the precious blood of Christ, and that through Him I am a treasure, a child of worth. I'm thankful for health, and happiness, and comfort.

There's more. But... it's not even Thanksgiving yet. I'll save something for later.

PS I LOVE this holiday!

Oh, Election Day

I really can't stand election season. Sorry, America, I'm exercising my right to not vote. Deal with it.

On the plus side, Guy Fawkes Day is on Friday!

Give Thanks!

I just love Thanksgiving! If I had to choose just one holiday to celebrate for a whole year, Thanksgiving would be my top choice--even over Guy Fawkes Day! It's not because I love the food (turkey, blegh), but because it's so... cozy! In a way that no other holiday is, Thanksgiving is without pretensions, I feel. Sure, it's a super shopping signal--but that's just because Christmas is around the corner. Black Friday is more about Christmas than Thanksgiving, in my opinion.

Thanksgiving is what it is: about giving thanks. There's no crazy gimmick, no bunny or fat dude or cupid, there's just family and turkey. How much better could it get? (Well, minus the turkey it could be better, but this isn't the time for me to be worrying about such things.)

Plus, I've been super encouraged recently about how awesome the assurance of Heaven is. Here's the deal--no matter how difficult our times on earth may be, no matter how much we don't feel like giving thanks, we can still rejoice, because it all ends in GLORY! Doesn't that just make every day a million times better?

So this year, if you're not feeling thankful for anything at all, just remember, no matter what trials we may experience, it'll all be worth it in HEAVEN! Even so come!

Party: Guy Fawkes style

Remember, remember the fifth of November,
The gunpowder, treason, and plot,
I know of no reason,
Why the gunpowder treason,
Should ever be forgot.

This poem is just to remind us all of the glorious holiday that is coming up tomorrow. (And lest I forget, happy birthday, mrg!) I guess it's maybe a little odd that I love Guy Fawkes day so much. After all, it's in celebration of a man who tried to blow up British Parliament. But since they celebrate it in England, I think it's only fair that we get to celebrate here, too.

People always ask me: why do they celebrate it? Well, I always answer that it's fun to run around and light off fireworks and have bonfires and the such, but I'm pretty sure that the only reason it is a celebrated holiday is because it used to be a mandatory holiday. No joke, for about 250 years after that not-fateful-after-all day, English folk were required to celebrate the deliverance of the King of England. My theory is, they just got so used to having a holiday specially for blowing things up that they just couldn't stop that train of fun once they were on it. So they celebrate to this day. And some of us poor North American folks, who don't know any better, celebrate right along with them.

This year, we're having a big Guy Fawkes Day party at my house. I'm not really organizing it (here's where the realities of work set in), but mrg is planning it for me. And coming over to cook the food, too. Nice...

Anyhow, I don't really have much else to say about GFD. I don't even know how I could wax eloquent about blowing things up. Except to remind us all that the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. How great a matter a little fire kindleth! Guy Fawkes no doubt never considered the power his tongue wielded. Unfortunately, he was too busy trying to kindle things with a little (or lot) of fire. My problem lies more with the tongue thing--I'm more tempted to spout off at the mouth than I am tempted to light things on fire. Though I do accidentally burn a very high number of pot holders... Hmm, maybe I have more of Guy Fawkes in me then I thought.