Thanksgiving Blessings

I LOVE Thanksgiving!!!  In many ways, I like it better than Christmas (though I still love Christmas too), but as I have gotten older my love for this holiday in November has increased.  I like to think that people are less materialistic and concerned about getting gifts, and are more focused on being thankful for the many ways God has blessed their life.  The point of Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Jesus, which gets lost easily, but with Thanksgiving it seems that even those who aren't religious have their attention drawn to being thankful for what they have, not looking to things of this world they think will bring true fulfillment and enjoyment to their lives.  You still have the opportunity to eat incredibly delicious food and spend time with loved ones.  The only shopping you really have to worry about with Thanksgiving is that of grocery shopping, which seems much more manageable when compared to Christmas gifts plus Christmas dinner.
      In the Hixon house, both Casey and I agreed that we are not going to have any sign of Christmas decorations or lights inside/outside of our house until after Thanksgiving Day (contrary to our neighbors that have their lights and decorations out in their yard beginning the week before turkey day.  Thanksgiving deserves to have it's day to celebrate it's purpose of being thankful for our blessings and not be considered another day closer to Christmas.  I will admit though I started decorating our house with Christmas decor the next day after Thanksgiving.
    This year was Casey and I's first Thanksgiving as husband and wife.  He might drive me cray sometimes, but he also makes me laugh, I love him more each day, and he is definitely my most treasured blessing after our Lord and His Son.  Since we have yet to figure out how to be in 2 places at once, Casey and I decided the easiest and fairest way to do the holidays with our families is to flip flop.  Since last Thanksgiving we went to Kerrville and spent it with Casey's family, that meant this year we stayed in town and spent Thanksgving with my side of the family.  We went about 15 minutes down the road to my Uncle John and Aunt Regina's house and had a wonderful meal, great time with family, and of course watching football!
   After spending most of the day there, we went to over to my in-law's house to bring my father in-law some Thanksgiving food since he's unable to travel to Kerrville to be with the rest of Casey's family.  We had a nice visit and then headed home.  Combined with some vacation days he used along with the Thanksgiving holidays, Casey had the whole week off work and I only went to work on Monday.  We were able to get a lot done around the house. I cleaned/cooked while Casey made much progress on the hole in the floor upstairs.  Even though my job is great and I love the people I work with, I enjoyed not having to wake up early, dress up super nice, and the way my house looked after me having time to clean it. 
  I hope and pray your Thanksgiving was as blessed as ours!! To close a Thanksgiving 2012 picture!

"Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever." 1 Chronicles 16:34