A little belatedly, I hope you had a happy Thanksgiving with family and got some good shopping deals! We had a great long weekend with my parents, got our Christmas decorations up, and are well on our way to having all the Christmas cards in the mail! It’s a Christmas miracle! So the only big holiday to-do left on my list is getting our gifts bought and wrapped. I got a few things for the easy people to buy for on my list this weekend, but I am still working on those harder folks, because even if the deals are good that doesn’t mean I know what to get them! I am going to work on some gift guides, mostly to get ideas for myself so that I don’t procrastinate and end up doing the dreaded December 2oth mall run. Ugh.
Hosting Our First Thanksgiving
Will and I also successfully checked an item off my November goals by hosting our first Thanksgiving! It was funny, because several of our closest couple friends did too, so it must have been the year for it. I repurposed our magnolia leaf garland and sparkly pumpkins from Friendsgiving, picked up some gold metallic candles from The Nest Egg, and busted out our fancy china and crystal. It made it really easy to make the table look good, and it’s fun to use the good stuff!
These candles were really great, because they were covered in some kind of paper that meant they don’t drip at all, which was huge.
It makes all the difference in the world to have a husband who is not only an amazing cook but really just takes it on himself to make all the food when I’m not looking. Really, I made the pumpkin pie, and Will pretty much magically whipped up the rest. All the food was ready at the time we wanted to eat, and despite numerous attempts to help, he didn’t really need it. I really hit the jackpot.
We celebrated with a bottle of wine that was a gift from our French friends, the LeFlochs!
Look at that plate of yummy food!
Everyday Gratitude
I’ve been thinking a lot about gratitude over this past year, actually, and have been meaning to write about it here. So now seems like a pretty good time. I think that gratitude is like a muscle you have to work every day until you look at life through a lens of thankfulness and not one of wanting. I’ve kind of realized that at any point, no matter what on earth is happening in life, you can look at things and think, “This is good, but I really need this thing to happen.” Or you can say, “Wow, I am incredibly blessed, and I am just going to sit here and revel in my joy and contentment over what the Lord has blessed me with.”
There will always be something imperfect to be upset about or obsess over, and there will always be that next thing that you need to make life better (i.e. “I love our apartment for an apartment, but we need more closet space, so we really need a house!”). In my good moments I realize that this moment is also something I wanted, hosting Thanksgiving for my parents with my husband in our first home together. If I don’t take a second to soak it in and say, “this is good,” then what’s the point of working toward it?
The bokeh was really working against me here…
I’ve also really noticed that when my gratitude muscle is strong, it makes a much bigger difference than I would have expected. My stress and anxiety levels are lower, and I’m a better wife and hopefully a better friend. It’s a lot easier said than done, but I’ve come up with a few tangible ways to help remind me:
- First, I use that extra space in the columns of my planner to list small things I am grateful for throughout the day. This can be anything from a delicious lunch to our dog walker, to a huge answered prayer. Really anything goes, but it keeps me focused on the positive.
- Second, I keep a running list of things I can do for people when I think of it. This is for things like making dinner for friends with a new baby, to sending a congratulations card so that my gratitude for people can translate into some real actions. I used to think of these ideas in passing and then forget and often never get around to it, so keeping a running list is a good way to turn ideas into actions.
- Third, Will and I have a meeting on Sunday nights (which maybe I should write about sometime) where we answer several questions, one of which is, “How did you feel loved this past week?” Knowing we have this meeting coming up is a great reminder to be on the lookout throughout the week for all the wonderful things he does for me! It’s kind of like gratitude accountability.
Pippa loves her Grandnan!
Do you have any other ideas for reminding yourself to be thankful?
