Many blessings

Have I ever mentioned how much I love my Sunday School class? Well, I do. They're the best. And, since Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, and my Sunday School class is my favorite class, it's no surprise that I have a great story about the two of them together.

Sunday morning, we learned about Thanks. One of the kids had supplied dum-dums enough to supply every single person in the upstairs, all-inclusive part with a treat, and so we all chorused a "Thank you" to him (well, his family, really, as they sent it along with him). This was perfect, as I was going to talk about thanks anyhow.

We spent some time talking about Christ's work on the cross and how that is the best thing to be thankful for. I had new kids, so we spent time making sure everyone knew how to get saved, and then I gave them all pieces of paper and writing instruments (I'm about five, so we all had crayons and markers and such) and told them to write or draw some things they were thankful for. After a few minutes (I was still writing furiously, myself), I said that if they were done, we would each read a few things from our lists. Oh, no, they declared, they weren't done! They kept writing, and writing, and many pages were filled up.

All good things must come to an end, so I finally had them wrap it up, and we all took turns reading a couple of the things we were thankful for. Interestingly enough, three of us (yes, yes, I wrote this, too) wrote that we were thankful for cheese. I like cheese enough to be thankful for it, but I was pretty impressed with the rest of them writing it. We all had fun explaining why we were thankful for certain people, I had the chance to be weirded out by several of their girls being thankful for themselves, I giggled when they were thankful for things like malls and lip gloss, and smiled when they were thankful for the Bible, and Sunday School, and family.

By the time we were done, none of us wanted to leave (partly because there was still some of the pumpkin log I'd made them for snack, but that's besides the point), and I made them promise to say thank you to at least three people later on in the day. Not sure if it'll work, but I think if people can get through their heads the attitude of thankfulness, that their whole attitude of life will change for the better.

All in all, a good Sunday School class. Those girls are the best.

Lent

So, I think Lent is crazy. If you wanted to give something up to one-up your flesh or whatever (still not sure I understand Lent, truth be told) then you should do it at any time. Like I decided caffeine was bad for me, and stopped taking it. Done and done. My sister gave up gluten for Lent last year, my best friend went off Chipotle, and last year I gave up nothing. This year, for some reason, I got sucked into the whole Lenten celebration (oops, Lent is supposed to be sad), and have given up... cheese.

Why cheese? Well, as I was explaining to someone the other day, I don't have a lot of vices to speak of. I don't spend a lot of money using a bank card of any sort (someone suggested that I use only cash during Lent). I don't drink or smoke, I don't drink coffee or any such habitual drink (no caffeine, remember?). I can't give up "worldly music" because they play it at work, and I don't think I could convince them to not turn on the radio for the next month and a half. If I didn't hold a job, it would make sense for me to not read fiction during Lent, but truth be told, I rarely get time to read these days, so it wouldn't feel like I was actually giving something up. Ditto movies, I don't even have time to watch them, nor the inclination, nor the ability. So that left me with... cheese.

But again, why cheese? Well, in my family, cheese is a big deal. Not that we gather round and give thanks to the brilliant men who first figured out how to make cheese delicious, but rather that we eat it a lot. Eggs, casseroles, spaghetti, macaroni, quesadillas, pretty much everything we make in a jiffy has cheese involved. Meals without cheese take more time, because they require actual planning involving flavour not derived from cheese.

So fare thee well, cheese, I shall devour thee once again come Easter.

Oh, the best part of Lent this year? My two best friends are giving up pop and going out to eat, respectively. I think we'll all be a little worse for the wear by the time it's all over. Huzzah to strength in numbers!