Our family will be home for Thanksgiving this year–a departure from normal since we’ve spent more than 25 Thanksgivings on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. We’ll miss our island time, but being together is what’s important.
I’ve always wanted my children to be thankful, and now that the grandbabies have joined us, it’s even more important to keep that focus. One of our family traditions has been to go around the table at the end of the meal and share what we’re thankful for that year.
It’s always a precious time. We’ve had great excitement when our sons proposed to their sweethearts and tears as we thanked God for answered prayers for the gift of a new grandbaby or for renewed health after scary hospital stays.
We’ve had sweet moments of just thanking God for who He is and for His faithfulness and love. And there have been times we’ve laughed until we’ve wiped tears from our cheeks.
Like the Thanksgiving Day a few years ago when our little granddaughter, Ava, was about 21-months-old. All of the adults had already shared about God’s blessings to them when I said to Ava, “Baby, do you have anything you’re thankful for today?”
She was so little that we didn’t really expect her to say anything, but she nodded her head vigorously, her little pigtails bouncing. She softly said, “I’m thankful for Mommy and Daddy…”
It was so precious and so unexpected that we all got tears in our eyes. And then she continued, “…and catsup…and coffee, too.”
Oh, my! From the mouths of babes.
Sweet friends, sometimes we become so focused on the big events of our lives that we forget about the little moments that really aren’t so little when you stop to think about them. Times of making memories, sitting around the table with those we love, laughing and sharing about our blessings. Moments of listening to stories of times past from older family members and watching little ones playing on the floor.
So this year in the midst of Thanksgiving Day with all its busyness and mayhem, take a few minutes to look at each person and think about what they mean to you. Focus on those ordinary moments together that we should never take for granted.
And don’t forget to snap some photos. Not just posed photos, but pictures of you in the kitchen with your grandmother while you mash the potatoes together, of your dad slicing the turkey or your husband playing with the children. These are the moments you’ll want to revisit someday.
God has been so good to us. How could we help but give thanks to Him for all His blessings. And for catsup and coffee, too!
Enter His gates with thanksgiving, And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him; bless His name. (Psalm 100:4)
