Tomorrow is Thanksgiving here in the US and we’re gearing up for a feast.  We’ve got checklists for the cleaning and the cooking.  I’ve got table decoration ideas saved on Pinterest.  There will be friends and family here.  It’s going to be quite the day.

And then it’s time for Christmas music!!

But I don’t want to get ahead of myself.

I want to talk about gratitude for a bit.  So not something anyone else is doing right now, right?

Seriously, though, gratitude is something that can change your outlook.  If you look for things that you’re thankful for, you’re more focused on the positive stuff.  Sure beats focusing on the negative stuff all the time.

In the spirit of gratitude, here is a short list of things I’m thankful for right now.

*The sunshine for the past couple of days.  This doesn’t feel like a normal November.

*AAA, fuzzy blankets, and pancakes.

*The glorious colors that are the leaves.

*The leaves piled at the bases of trees.  They look like colorful snow and make me want to pile them up and jump in the pile.

*Fire in the wood stove on chilly nights.

*The waxing moon.

*The sweet gum trees that manage to be at least five different colors at the same time.

*The young roosters gaining their crowing voices.  They sound like teenagers with their voices cracking.

*The sweet doggo who’s always happy to see me and makes me feel like the coolest person ever.

*The sweet kitty who loves to be held and waits for me to come home in the evening and provides inspiration when I’m writing.

*Authors whose words touch my heart, nonfiction and fiction, their words seem to come at the right time and lift my soul somehow.  It’s God planning these things.

*A word to my heart from God.

*Fresh baked bread.  I’m hoping that I get to be the one to make the house smell amazing this week.

*Andrew Peterson being my favorite singer/songwriter for 17 years now.

*Discovering new singers, listening to the stories behind songs, and hearing how songwriters write their songs.

*Books so good that I have to listen to them 4 or 5 times in a row.

*Songs that move my heart and make me cry.

*Friends who are practically family.

*Family members who are friends.

*Amazing people who value me and see my potential.

*Christmas anticipation: the music, the gifts, the decorations, the movies.

*Chocolate

*Watercolor paints, watercolor crayons, and watercolor colored pencils.

*Discovering new kinds of tea.

*A hot cup of tea just when I need it most.

*My library card.  Libraries open up the door to so many possibilities, only some of them books.

*Podcasts that make me laugh, cry, and think.

*Different versions of the Bible that help me think and understand.

*Finding the books that I’ve been searching for–and they’re on sale!

*My hubby’s hugs.

*God’s provisions.

What are you thankful for?

If you want to read some about how gratitude can change your life, check out these two books.  One Thousand Gifts is from a faith perspective, and the writing takes a bit to get into.  It’s more poetic than I’m used to, but once I picked up the flow, it was beautiful.  The Gratitude Diaries is more from a journalistic perspective.  I’m about halfway through right now, and I can’t wait to get to the end to see what happens at the end of her year of gratitude.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you don’t eat so much that you throw up.

And don’t have too much fun.