Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

The hour draws near...it will soon be the day ofPilgrims and Indians, turkeys drawn from elementary school kids' hands with construction paper feathers, a parade through New York City ending with Santa, football games, the smell of pumpkin pie, the aching feeling of eating too much too quickly...oh, Thanksgiving - we love thee, o American holiday that serves all of our lazy, happy indulgences. (Of course, that statement is really for the men and children who do not have to cook or clean up after the biggest meal of the year. Bah, humturkey.) Still, I do like a chance to think over my particular blessings of the year. I have many. They're probably innumerable. So here are some things I am grateful for, the trivial and important...

The Trivial (just 11 points.)

1. Television Without Pity, for it makes me laugh and revels in my own loved television. And, quoting Carrie, the six degrees that lead from there to all the other stuff that I read on line for fun.
2. Friends on DVD. All ten seasons.
3. French Vanilla Creamer in my coffee. Coffee Mate brand. It's the good stuff.
4. A big bathtub to take bubble baths in.
5. Heated seats in my car.
6. Scented candles.
7. Charlie Brown. All the year long.
8. I have to say it. Milk and cookies. Or milk and brownies. Either will do.
9. Diet Dr. Pepper. You knew that was on the list, right?
10. My couch that is wide and pillowy and comfy.
11. Curling irons. For without it, there would never be a good hair day.

The Crucial

1. God's grace and love. Without that, everything else would drain down the pooper.
2. Christian and Sean - two healthy, amazing, happy boys. With all of my mistakes and uncertainties and paranoia...they still seem to be just fine. I'm so so so so unbelievably happy when I see their faces.
3. Neil. Because even with all of our ups and downs, we're still in love and can make each other laugh. He can still make my stomach jump with that certain wink and when he sings, I still feel that 'I have a crush' sensation...
4. Our house. :) I never expected to have a house, complete with a yard and garage and fun Narnia like street lamps so soon...
5. Carrie. It is so amazing to have a friend that understands...pretty much everything. We can send random emails, create alternate universes, commiserate over boys, ruminate the God-matters, squeal or yell over movies/tv/music/books...I'm grateful to have someone with whom I can relish all the good moments and make it through all the bad ones. For all the chocolate, for all the conversation, for watching grown-up shows on a Mickey Mouse tv, for letting small boys drool on you and pull your hair and chase your cats...thanks.
6. My family - my mom, whom I can call and talk to for forever about anything (sometimes in a little too much detail :) ) and my dad, with all of our random debates and deep questions, and just everything that they've given me - they shaped who I am and enabled me to handle this world. My sisters, who are fun and let me borrow clothes and cds and who put up with my crazy moods...my brother, who is sweet and talks city-like and is the best 8 year old uncle in the world.
7. The public library. Seriously. For letting me read so many books for free. With that - literature and writing. Without the world of books, I wouldn't be the person that I am.
8. Good jobs. Particularly my job that allows time for #7.
9. Music. I read something somewhere that we are essentially creatures of noise - down to our heartbeat and breathing in and out...and music touches that core part of us. It's a wonderful way that God gave us to express and feel our emotions.
10. Health and the beauty that is nature and food and medicine and America.


And finally....
This Thanksgiving, I hope that you do not...
Go onto the roof to see a giant cartoon dog balloon loose over the city and lock yourself out of your apartment with dinner burning, accidentally try a piece of pumpkin pie with Mockolate cookie crumb, get roped into a football game with a troll trophy prize that will last until death or frostbite, spend the day in a large box or kiss your ex-boyfriends son, reveal the truth about why you cut off your secret boyfriend's toe and have to put a turkey on your head to make up with him, make an English truffle with a layer of beef sauteed with peas and onions, make a bet that you will not eat dinner until you name all fifty states, have dinner with a guy from high school that founded a club - with the father of your child - based on hating you, forget to ride on the Macey's Parade float or have a fist fight with your sister or break a full box of wedding china reserved for the queen of England, arrive so late to dinner that you're locked out and then get your head stuck in the partly opened door and then when you're set free, don't knock Thanksgiving dinner onto the floor.

I do hope that you laugh a lot and eat a lot and smile. A lot.
Cheers!