Thanksgiving 2010

I had the funniest dream the other day.

I dreamed that I was sitting at Thanksgiving dinner with my husband's family, including his uncle's new and wonderful wife, when all of a sudden she announced that she'd written a new book. She pulled out a copy for each of us. The book was all about living a healthy lifestyle. As we were oohing and ahhing over how cute she looked on the cover, she pulled out a giant bag of orange M&Ms. She explained that with every diet, you need to be able to take a break sometimes and then she said something like, "I call these M&Ms 'Urgent Orange,' because when you need an M&M, it is URGENT."

So for the last few days, I've been laughing to myself about Urgent Orange M&Ms.

Today was a wonderful Thanksgiving. In addition to eating a tasty dinner with Matt's family (thanks to Jo Ann for hosting the whole thing and adding her own special touch to make things nice), we took a trip to Natural Bridges beach in Santa Cruz. This was an especially fun beach because this is where Monarch butterflies hang out from October through January. We hiked through a small grove of trees where we saw hundreds of monarch butterflies huddled together to stay warm. Every once in a while a few of them would flutter around. It was amazing! We also explored some tidal pools, played in the sand, and found little sand crabs. Emmy and Sophie ran away when I told them it was time to go. I think they seriously could have played there all day long.

We have SO MUCH to be grateful for. And I know that this is the subject that all of my fellow bloggers are writing on today, but I think that's a good thing. Because we all could use a little more gratitude. Imagine how much happier we'd all be if thanksgiving were the focus of each day. We might all be a little fatter too . . . but that's okay. We'd all be fat and happy together.

And so what comes to my mind on this day of thanks, is the soft cheeks that I get to kiss each day, every day, all day; the girlish giggles that fill my waking hours; the ice cream in my freezer; the dirty dishes that Matt does faithfully each day; a not-too-hard-not-too-soft King-sized bed to sleep in each night; music that speaks to my soul; books that feed my spirit; dear friends; family; did I mention that roly-poly smiley baby boy that I can't stop kissing?

The Lord has blessed us all. May we remember His hand in all things . . .