Thankful

As we get closer to Thanksgiving we rev up for full-blown holiday, family time, eat lots of food, spend lots of money, get all weepy about your kids season. I love the holidays. I love the way my house looks all decorated. I love all the food we eat; I love all the baking we do. I love the chilly weather, the chances of snow, the sweaters, the shopping. I love the snugness of turning on the heat and getting out the down comforter. I love the stories of Santa; the side comments of, "do you think the elves could build that?" I love the planning and then scheming and the surprising.

This is the time of year when I try to slow down and focus on the incredible things and people in my life. I am so blessed, I have two, beautiful, healthy children, I have a wonderful husband, I have loving parents and parents-in-law.

I am a different person this year. I am more cautious, careful. I am slower, more deliberate. I guess this is what happens as you get older. I am realizing just how incredibly precious my life is, how important my family is.

I am blessed to be a mother. I am blessed to be able to take care of my family. I am blessed to look out my window and see fall colored leaves and a cloudy autumn sky.

I have so much to be thankful for.

And I will bake and shop and plan and prepare for a season of being with my family. A season of showing them how precious they are to me. A season of holding them close and thanking God for another year to spend with them.